Crash Into Me
by othfan80
Summary: Rebecca did not give Sam up for adoption. She kept Sam and had another child, Seth. She's a good mom. Sam is fourteen and Seth is five when Rebecca is in an accident. Her children are placed in foster care. Brooke eventually takes them in. Dark themes
1. Accidents Happen

**Story Info:**

**Rebecca did not give Sam up for adoption. She kept Sam and had another child, Seth. She's a good mom. Sam is fourteen and Seth is five when Rebecca is in an accident. Her children are placed in foster care. Brooke eventually takes them in and they work to become a family. Haley and Nate have Jamie, who is five. Haley teaches, and Sam is in her class.**

**Pairings:**

**Haley/Nate**

**Sam/Jack**

**Eventually Brooke/Julian**

**

* * *

Friday**

"Sam! Breakfast!" Rebecca called from the kitchen. As usual, the fourteen year old wasn't up. Sam could sleep through an earthquake. Rebecca turned to her five year old son, Seth, and smiled. "Hey, do you want to go wake your sister up?"

Seth raced into Sam's bedroom and jumped on her bed. Sam groaned and opened her eyes. Her brother was bouncing up and down on her bed. She pulled Seth into her arms and tickled him. Seth giggled and tried to get free from her.

Rebecca, Sam and Seth ate breakfast together at the kitchen table. "Sam, are you excited for the assembly today?" Rebecca asked. Sam had won an essay contest and would be reading her essay aloud at a school assembly.

"Excited? Try nervous. I have to read my writing in front of like two thousand people," Sam replied.

"Just imagine everyone in their underwear," Seth suggested. Rebecca and Sam looked at him and smiled.

"Where does he get this stuff?" Sam wondered. She smirked. "There are definitely some people I would _not_ want to see in their underwear."

"I'm so proud of you, Honey. I traded shifts so I can come," Rebecca said. Sam smiled.

Rebecca dropped Sam and Seth off at school on her way to work. She worked at a cafe.

Sam's boyfriend, Jack, was waiting for her by her locker. "Hey." He grinned.

"Hey yourself." Sam smirked. She kissed him and they went to class.

The day dragged on for Sam. She half-wished she would have faked sick so she could just stay home and skip the assembly. She had butterflies in her stomach. The thought of food made her stomach do flips so she picked at her lunch without actually eating. Jack noticed. There wasn't much about Sam that he didn't notice. "Are you scared?" He asked knowingly. Sam nodded. "You know what scares me? The king. You know, from Burger King. That guy creeps me out." Sam cracked a smile. After lunch the principal made an announcement for all students to go to the auditorium for the assembly.

Sam sat on the stage with the other award winners who were being honored. There were so many people in the auditorium. She searched the sea of faces for her mom, but she didn't see Rebecca. When she heard her name called, her mom still hadn't shown up. Sam's face fell. She really wanted her mom to be there.

Sam's feet felt heavy as she made her way to the podium. She felt everyone's eyes on her. She opened her mouth to speak and her voice came out higher than usual. She looked down so she didn't have to see all the people staring at her. She finished reading her essay as quickly as she could and hastily returned to her seat. She just wanted this to be over with.

When the assembly ended, Sam's English teacher, Mrs. Scott, stopped her from leaving. "Sam! You need to go to the office."

Sam looked up in surprise. She was a good student. She'd never been called to the office before in her life. She didn't have a clue what she could have done. "OK," she said nervously.

When Sam got to the front office, Principal Rimkus was waiting with a police officer. Why was there a police officer? She couldn't even think of anything she'd done that was bad enough to be called to the office much less something that warranted the police being called. Sam's heart was pounding in her chest.

"Samantha, you should sit down," Principal Rimkus said.

Sam sat down. The police officer approached her. "Your mother was in a car accident."

The fear Sam felt about whatever horrible fate awaited her in the office vanished. In its place was fear for her mom. Sam had never been this scared before in her life. She stared at the police officer with wide eyes. "Where is she? Is she OK? Oh my gosh, is she at the hospital? I have to go to the hospital!" Sam couldn't even think straight. She didn't know what to do. Panic took over completely.

"Samantha, I'm sorry…your mother didn't survive," Principal Rimkus said gently. She put her hand on Sam's shoulder, but Sam jerked away.

"No. No!" Sam shook her head as though denying it would make it less real. Her mom couldn't be dead. Rebecca had dropped Sam off at school a few hours ago. Rebecca had been fine. How could she just be dead?

The police officer nodded as if to confirm that Principal Rimkus wasn't making it all up. "The other driver ran a red light and hit your mother's car. She died upon impact."

Sam stared at him in horror. She couldn't even grasp the fact that her mom was dead. Why would he tell her how Rebecca died? She didn't want to hear the gruesome details.

Sam didn't even realize she was crying until Principal Rimkus offered her a tissue. Sam dabbed at her face to no avail. As soon as she wiped away her tears, fresh tears welled up in her eyes. She felt like she was drowning in grief. She didn't know how to swim to the surface.

Sam sat in the Tree Hill Social Services office. She didn't really know how she'd gotten there. She vaguely remembered the police officer ushering her into his car. It was all a blur.

A middle aged African American woman sat across from Sam. "Samantha, I'm Fern." She extended her hand.

"Sam," Sam corrected harshly. She realized she was being rude. "I'm sorry."

"It's OK. Do you have any family we can call for you?" Fern asked.

"My brother. Where's Seth?" Sam said quickly. She'd been so overcome with grief she hadn't even thought to ask about Seth. He was only five! What kind of sister was she?

"A police officer is getting him from school. He'll be here any minute," Fern replied.

"Did they tell him? I should be the one to tell him," Sam said quietly.

"I believe they told him," Fern replied. She clasped her hands together. "Are there any adults we can call?"

"No. I…there's no one," Sam mumbled. Her mom was all she had. Now she had no one. Her mind wandered and she imagined herself on her wedding day with no one to help her get ready or walk her down the aisle. Here she was feeling sorry for herself when her mom was the one who died. Sam knew she was being unbelievably selfish.

Fern nodded. "Your mom didn't have a will. She didn't specify who would get custody of you if anything were to happen."

"She was only twenty-eight! Nothing was supposed to happen!" Sam shouted.

"I'm sorry," Fern said gently.

A police officer led Seth into Fern's office. His eyes were red and swollen from crying. He looked so scared. Sam wanted to tell him everything was going to be OK, but she knew she couldn't. Nothing would ever be OK again. Their whole world had just come crumbling down around them.

"Sam!" Seth cried out. He hurried toward her. Sam scooped him up into her lap. She hugged Seth close and rubbed his back comfortingly.

"I'm going to try to place you in a foster home for tonight," Fern said.

"Foster care? No! We're NOT going to foster care!" Sam cried out.

"I'm sorry. There really are no other options," Fern said. She searched available foster homes in her computer and frowned. "There's only one bed left at Tree Hill Group Home."

"We can share," Sam said quickly.

Fern shook her head. "That's not an option. One of you-"

"You can't split us up! He's my brother! I'm all he has!" Sam said with a hint of anger.

"I will do everything I can to place you in a foster home together, but tonight one of you will have to stay at Juvenile Hall," Fern said.

"Juvy? Isn't that like for criminals? We didn't do anything wrong!" Sam said angrily. Why were they being punished? This was so unfair!

"It's temporary. As soon as I can place you, we'll move you to foster homes," Fern said.

Sam swallowed a lump in the back of her throat. She knew she had to be strong for Seth. She couldn't break down in front of him, but she just didn't know how much more she could take. She'd been at her breaking point when they told her that Rebecca was dead. Now she had to try to process that she was being separated from the only family she had left and sent to juvy like a common criminal. "I'll go to juvy. Seth can go to the group home."

Fern nodded. She excused herself to make the arrangements. Sam turned Seth so he was facing her. "You're going to stay in a group home with other kids."

Seth looked up at Sam. His eyes were filled with fear. "I don't want to go!" He said thickly.

"It'll be fun. It'll be just like summer camp," Sam said gently.

"Where are you going?" Seth asked.

"I'm going to…a different home, but I promise I'll see you as soon as I can," Sam replied.

Fern dropped Seth off first. He said a tearful goodbye to Sam.

Seth stretched his little arms out as far as he could. "I love you this much."

Sam smiled and did the same with her own arms. "Oh yeah? Well I love you _this_ much."

Fern dropped Sam off at juvy. It looked pretty much how Sam imagined. It was a large institution with no frills.

Sam was instructed to shower in a locker room style bathroom. She felt exposed. She showered as quickly as possible. She was given plain pair of grey sweats to change into after she showered.

Dinner was unrecognizable mush served in a cafeteria. Sam carried her tray to a table and sat down. The girl across from her looked at her with pure hate in her eyes. "That seat is taken."

Sam stood up immediately. "I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be," the girl replied. The girl lunged at Sam, knocking her down. Sam couldn't breathe. She felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her. As Sam struggled to breath, the girl on top of her punched her face over and over again. Where were the guards? Why weren't they doing anything? It felt like it took hours for the guards to break the fight up when it really only took a few minutes.

After dinner Sam was given a bed in a room with another girl. The room looked and felt like a jail cell. Sam didn't know what she'd done to deserve this.


	2. Scar Tissue

**Thanks for the reviews! Warning: this chapter contains sexual assault and dark themes. It isn't very descriptive, but if that makes you uncomfortable, you should skip this chapter.**

* * *

Saturday

Brooke Davis wanted a baby, but when she told her boyfriend, Owen, he totally freaked out. He practically left an Owen-shaped hole in her door. He was now her ex-boyfriend. Single and alone, Brooke decided to foster a child.

Brooke went to the group home that morning. Seth instantly caught her attention. He was playing basketball outside. He reminded her of a little Nathan. He had brown hair, golden skin and an athletic build. He also had Nate's jump shot. When Fern told her Seth's story, she decided to take Seth in.

Seth was the same age as her best friend's son, Jamie. Brooke knew she enjoyed that age group and she figured Haley could help her out if she had any questions.

It didn't take Brooke long to realize that every kid is different no matter the age. Jamie was a chatterbox, who barely let Brooke get word in edgewise. Unlike Jamie, Seth was quiet. He hadn't said a word to her since they left the group home.

Brooke had tried her hardest to get Seth to open up. She'd talked to him about basketball, video games, anything she could think of that kids were supposed to like. Seth just sat there. Brooke was beginning to think the kid hated her.

Brooke showed Seth to the guest room closest to her room. "This is your room. My room is right across the hall."

"Where's Sam's room?" Seth asked quietly.

Brooke looked confused. "Is Sam one of your friends?"

Seth shook his head. "No, Silly. She's my sister."

Maybe it was better when Seth wasn't speaking to her. Brooke didn't know what to say. Fern hadn't mentioned that Seth had a sister. Brooke knew Seth's mom had died in a car accident. Maybe his sister was in the accident as well.

"I don't know. Fern didn't tell me where she is," Brooke said.

"I want Sam," Seth said thickly. He looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"I'll talk to Fern and see if you can visit her," Brooke said. She pulled her cell phone and Fern's business card out of her purse. She got Fern's voicemail. This was just perfect. She had a kid who looked like he was about to burst into tears at any second. Seth's social worker was unavailable. What was Brooke supposed to do? She didn't know what to do and Seth was standing there looking at her for the answer. "OK, Buddy, I left Fern a message. Do you want to go meet my nephew while we wait for her to call back? He's your age." Seth shrugged. Brooke didn't know whether she should be worried or grateful that the kid was back to not talking.

Sam usually slept in as late as she could. If Seth had anything to say about it, she didn't sleep as late as she'd like to. He did everything he could to wake her up because he always wanted her to play with him. This morning was different. Sam hadn't slept at all. She'd been too sad, scared and angry to get to sleep.

Sam just wanted to get out of there and go see her brother, but she realized that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. The guards laughed when she told them she wanted to leave. "This is Juvenile Hall, not a hotel, Kid."

"You don't understand. I didn't do anything! I'm-"

"Yeah, you and everyone else in here," the guard retorted.

"I'm NOT a criminal! I'm in foster care. There weren't any beds left in the group home. This is temporary," Sam explained.

"Sorry, Kid. You're stuck here," the guard replied. He didn't sound sorry at all.

Sam was beginning to think she would never get out of this hellhole when Fern picked her up. "Thank God! They wouldn't let me leave! Where's Seth?"

"Good news. I was able to place your brother. He's the only child in the home, which is good. I've also found a placement for you," Fern said with a smile.

"What do you mean also? We're not together? You said you'd place us together," Sam said with a hint of anger.

"No, I said I would do everything I could to place you in a foster home together. Right now that is not an option. Don't you want your brother to be in a foster home? Group homes aren't ideal," Fern said.

"None of this is ideal! Our mom dying isn't ideal! Being put in foster care isn't ideal! Being separated isn't freaking ideal!" Sam shouted.

"I hope you'll give this a chance," Fern said quietly.

"The verdict's out. Foster care blows," Sam muttered. "Where's my brother?"

"I can't give you that information," Fern replied.

"The hell you can't! He's MY brother! Where the hell is he?" Sam yelled.

"I'll speak with his foster mom. We can arrange visitations," Fern promised.

Fern dropped the sullen teen off at her new foster home. Her foster parents were Debbie and Patrick Bryant. The house was small and cluttered. Sam felt really uncomfortable being in someone else's home, but she supposed it was better than juvy. She wouldn't know how wrong she was until later that night.

"Aunt Brooke!" Jamie came barreling towards Brooke. Brooke held her hands out and swept him up into her arms for a huge hug. When she set him back down, he looked at Seth with interest. "Hi. I'm James Lucas Scott. You can call me Jamie."

"I'm Seth Walker," Seth replied.

Brooke saw a flicker of recognition on Haley's face. "Do you have an older sister?" Haley asked. Brooke looked up in surprise.

Seth nodded. "Sam. She's fourteen. She can skateboard."

"I know your sister. I'm a teacher. Sam's in my class," Haley said.

Seth lit up at the news. "Do you know where she is?" He asked hopefully.

Haley looked confused. She looked at Brooke and Brooke shrugged. "I don't know where she is right this second, but I'll see her on Monday," Haley replied. Seth's face fell.

Haley suggested that Jamie and Seth play a video game so she could talk to Brooke.

"Do you have Sam's address? I don't know if it can wait until Monday. He's been asking for her non-stop," Brooke said.

"I'll give you the last address I have for her, but I don't think it will be current. Their mom died on Friday. If he's been placed in a foster home, she probably has been as well," Haley said.

"Or she's back at the group home," Brooke murmured thoughtfully. "What's she like?"

"She's one of my favorite students. She's a really good writer. She won the school essay contest," Haley said.

Brooke smirked. "I didn't ask what her writing is like, Tutor Mom. You're such a teacher! How old is she?"

"She's a freshman," Haley replied. She finished pulling Sam's information up on her computer and jotted the address down for Brooke.

"Thanks. Can you watch Seth while I go see if she's there?" Brooke asked.

"Of course," Haley said with a smile.

Brooke went to tell Seth she'd be back later. She was happy to see him smiling for once. Jamie and Seth looked like they were having fun. "Hey, Buddy, I have to go. I'll be back soon. Will you be OK?" Seth nodded.

"Any luck?" Haley asked when Brooke returned.

"No. No one was home at the address you gave me and she's not at the group home. I don't know what else I can do," Brooke said.

"You've done everything you can do. I'll talk to Sam on Monday," Haley said gently.

"Seth, are you ready to go?" Brooke asked. Seth nodded.

Haley and Jamie walked them out. Jamie waved from the front porch. Seth smiled and waved back.

"What do you want for dinner?" Brooke asked.

"Can we go to the café?" Seth asked.

Brooke was surprised at the choice. She'd expected him to ask for pizza or something. She nodded.

When they got to the café, Seth ran to the counter. "Diana!" Brooke hurried after him.

The waitress behind the counter smiled. "How's my favorite five year old?"

"I'm the only five year old you know," Seth replied.

Diana laughed and gave the kid a quick hug. "I'm sorry about your mom."

Seth's expression turned stony. "Do you know where Sam is?"

Diana looked confused. "I haven't seen her today." She smiled at Brooke. "Hi. I'm Diana. I work-I mean…worked-with Rebecca." Suddenly it made sense why Seth had chosen to eat here.

"I'm Brooke. Seth is my foster son," Brooke explained.

Seth climbed up onto a barstool and tried to stand up. Brooke instinctively put her hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"Seth, what are stools for?" Diana asked.

"Sitting, not standing," Seth mumbled. He sat down begrudgingly.

"Thank you," Diana said with a smile. She turned to Brooke. "What can I get you?"

Brooke looked at Seth. "Do you know what you want?"

"Coffee and grilled cheese," Seth replied.

"Coffee stunts your growth and you're already short, Kiddo," Diana teased.

"I'm supposed to be short. I'm five," Seth retorted.

Diana handed Seth a couple of quarters. "Do you want to go pick a song on the juke box?" Seth nodded. Once he was gone, Diana rolled her eyes. "His sister drinks coffee. He always has to have whatever Sam has. I usually give him milk in a coffee cup."

"Thanks," Brooke said. "I'll have a water and the grilled chicken sandwich." Brooke slid money over to Diana and then carried the drinks over to a booth.

Seth found Brooke and slid in across from her. "Did you have fun with Jamie today?" Brooke asked.

Seth nodded. "We played Wii basketball. I'm good but not as good as Jamie. He's really good!"

"It doesn't hurt that his dad's a basketball coach," Brooke said with a smile.

"Really?" Seth asked with wide eyes.

Brooke nodded. "He coaches the Ravens."

"No way! I want to play for the Ravens when I'm in high school," Seth said.

"Would you like to go to a game sometime?" Brooke asked. Seth nodded.

They finished eating and went home. Brooke told Seth to get ready for bed. She went into his room to tuck him in. "Will you read me a story?" Seth asked.

Brooke didn't have any children's books in the house. "No but I can tell you a story." She racked her brain for an age appropriate story to tell Seth. She decided to tell him about Nate overcoming his injury since Seth obviously liked basketball. He fell asleep before Brooke finished the story. She smiled as she pulled the covers over him and turned off the light. They'd gotten off to a rocky start, but she had a feeling this was going to work out. She really wanted to take care of Seth.

"You freaking idiots!" Patrick screamed at the TV. He was watching football and swearing a blue streak whenever his team lost the ball. Crushed beer cans covered every inch of the coffee table. The more Patrick drank, the angrier he seemed to get. He finished his drink with a loud belch. "Deb, I need another beer! Deb!" He bellowed.

"She's not here," Sam said. Patrick stared at her with a confused look on his face. "She went to work. She said she's working the night shift."

"Make yourself useful. Get me another beer," Patrick said. Sam retrieved a can of Budweiser from the fridge. When she handed it to him, he kept his sweaty hand over hers long enough to make her uncomfortable. She hastily retreated to the armchair on the other side of the room. She felt Patrick's eyes on her. "What are you doing all the way over there? Let's get to know each other better."

Sam had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "I'm just going to go to bed."

"It's only nine thirty. You're not going to bed yet. You're a big girl," Patrick said with an evil grin. Sam didn't like the look in his eyes.

"I'm tired," Sam insisted. She stood up.

Patrick moved surprisingly quickly considering he was drunk. He was in front of Sam within seconds, his large form blocking her. He was so close she could smell the alcohol on his breath.

Sam looked up at Patrick with fear in her eyes. She saw her fate when she looked into his cold eyes. She felt his hand slip underneath the yoga pants she was wearing. His touch sickened her.

"Get your hands off me!" Sam screamed.

"Who do you think you are talking to me like that? I'm going to teach you some respect," Patrick said angrily.

It was at this moment that Sam realized juvy would have been better than this house of horrors. _Anywhere_ would have been better than here. Sam was completely and totally alone with this monster. Something snapped in Sam. She knew she had to do something before it was too late. She raised her knee as hard as she could until it collided with Patrick's groin.

Patrick groaned, but didn't collapse in agony like Sam had hoped. In fact, the only thing Sam had accomplished was to make Patrick even more pissed off. "You'll pay for that, you little bitch," he muttered. His fist collided with Sam's face. _Bam_. She felt like little explosions were going off inside her head and right by her eye. The teen's crumpled body sank to the floor. Patrick kicked her stomach.

The pain was indescribable. Everything hurt. Sam heard Patrick unzipping his jeans and knew the worst was yet to come.

Sunday

Sam didn't move until Patrick passed out. She didn't want to wake the sleeping giant. She dragged her aching body off the floor.

She wanted to take a shower. She felt so dirty. She knew she couldn't wash the filth away, but she couldn't stand to be in her own skin right now. She scrubbed herself until she was raw. She changed into clean clothes.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror and grimaced. Thanks to the girl who'd attacked her in juvy and Patrick, Sam had black eyes and a busted lip. They'd really done a number on her.

Sam crept past Patrick and walked out the door. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew anywhere was better than here.

She walked to the river court on autopilot. It was her thinking spot. It was the only place Sam felt safe right now. She sat down on the bleachers and pulled a pen and notebook out of her bag.

Sam had always liked to write. She could write things that she would never be able to say. Writing was cathartic for her.

_Physical or emotional pain: What's worse? Surface wounds heal, but emotional scars never fade. How much can one person take before they break? _

_I used to think I was strong. It only took two days for me to break. _


	3. Gone So Young

**Thanks for the reviews! This chapter doesn't have much Brooke, but the next chapter will have a lot of her and she'll meet Sam.**

* * *

Monday

_Patrick's body was on top of Sam's. She closed her eyes and tried to block out what was happening. Even if she couldn't see Patrick, she could feel him as he violated her in the worst way possible. He was only on top of her for a few minutes, but it felt like he would never get off of her._

Sam woke up screaming bloody murder. She was drenched in her own sweat. She wished it had only been a dream, but she was living a nightmare.

Sam's body was stiff and sore. She'd already been sore and sleeping on the hard metal bleachers at the river court hadn't helped.

Sam knew she needed to get out of there before someone saw her and called the police. The police were the ones who put her in juvy in the first place.

She didn't go to school. She didn't know if the Bryants had reported her missing, and she wasn't taking any chances. When everything was uncertain, the only thing Sam knew for sure was that she could not-no, she _would not_-go back there. She never wanted to see Patrick again.

She spent the day making preparations for that night. She went to her house and used her keys to let herself in. Sadness engulfed her as she walked through the house she could no longer call her home. She blinked back tears as she passed pictures of Rebecca, herself and Seth. All Sam wanted was for Rebecca to hold her and tell her everything would be OK, but Rebecca would never hold her again.

Sam quickly packed a bag for herself and one for Seth. She grabbed everything she could think of that they'd need to survive-a few changes of clothes, blankets, toiletries, and whatever food she could find that wouldn't go bad. She threw the stuffed bear Seth always slept with in his bag. Then she looked around for anything valuable she could pawn. She knew she'd need money to take care of Seth. She threw whatever jewelry and electronics were lying around the house in her bag.

Sam waited for her brother outside of the elementary school. He instantly spotted her and raced into her waiting arms. "Sam!"

Sam winced in pain when Seth wrapped his arms around her torso and squeezed the place where Patrick had kicked her. "What happened?" He touched her eyes with his hands and looked at her with concern.

"I fell when I was skateboarding. Come on, let's get out of here," Sam said. She took Seth's hand in her own and they started walking.

"I'm supposed to wait for Brooke," Seth protested.

Sam stopped and knelt down so she was eye level with Seth. "Is Brooke your foster mom?" Seth nodded. "Was she good to you?" She hoped her brother's experience had been better than her own. She couldn't imagine much worse. She knew she'd make anyone who hurt her brother live to regret it. She would do whatever it took to protect Seth.

"She's nice, but I missed you. When can we go home?" Seth said.

Sam hesitated. How do you tell a five year old that he can't go home? Home as they knew it was gone. "I missed you, too. Tonight you're going to stay with me." Seth grinned crookedly.

Brooke waited in front of Seth's school. She watched as kids poured out, but she didn't see Seth. The crowd thinned and she still didn't see him. She was starting to get worried. She approached a woman who was supervising pick up. "Excuse me. I'm looking for Seth Walker. He's my foster son."

The woman frowned. "Seth's sister picked him up a little while ago."

"And you just let her leave with him?" Brooke demanded with a mixture of anger and fear.

"Sam's authorized to pick him up. She picks him up all the time," the woman replied.

"Did she say anything? Do you know where they went?" Brooke asked.

"I don't know," the woman said.

Brooke held onto the hope that Haley had talked to Sam. Haley probably knew where Sam took Seth. Haley _had_ to know. Brooke was sure this was all a mix up. She called Haley. "Hi Hales. Did you talk to Sam today?"

"No, she wasn't in class today," Haley replied.

As soon as the words left Haley's mouth, Brooke's blood ran cold with fear. "She took Seth. She picked him up from school and I…they're gone. I don't know anything about Sam. I don't even know where to start looking for him. What kind of mom am I? I've only had him for three days and I lost him!" Brooke said desperately.

"You're a good mom. Seth is going through a really hard time right now, and you've been great with him. If he's with Sam, he's going to be OK. She's a good kid. She's smart," Haley said.

"I don't know about that. She ditched school and kidnapped Seth," Brooke replied with a hint of anger.

"I'll help you look for them," Haley offered.

They checked everywhere they could think of-the Walker house, the river court, the café. They didn't know where else to look. Not knowing what else to do, Brooke reported Seth missing to the police. They told her Sam had been reported as a runaway the day before.

Sam took Seth to the park. She watched him play happily. She was amazed at how resilient kids could be. She felt as though she'd never be happy again.

Sam wished she could bounce back so easily. She missed her mom so much. She didn't think it would ever stop hurting.

Sam let Seth play until it started getting dark. "Seth! Are you getting hungry?"

Seth hurried over. "Yeah. Are we going home for dinner?"

"No, we're going to McDonalds." Sam tried to sound excited for her brother's sake.

Sam knew they needed to make what little money she had last. She also wanted to avoid attracting attention by going into a nice restaurant. She'd been receiving curious stares all day because of her appearance. She couldn't blame them. She would have stared, too. It looked like someone had beaten the crap out of her and in this case looks weren't deceiving.

They sat down in a booth and ate cheeseburgers. "Sam, can I have dessert?" Seth asked as he stuffed fries into his mouth.

"If you eat your dinner," Sam replied. "And don't talk with your mouth full." She realized she sounded just like their mom. For all intents and purposes, she was Seth's mom now. She would have to take care of him. She was only fourteen, but she wasn't a child anymore. She had to be the adult whether she was ready or not.

"You don't like sea food?" Seth opened his mouth showing the half-chewed food. "Get it? See-"

"I get it," Sam said quickly. "You need to get some original material. That's old, not to mention disgusting."

"I'm done. Can I have dessert now?" Seth asked with puppy dog eyes. Sam nodded. She went back to the counter and bought an ice cream cone for Seth.

Brooke stayed up all night. She couldn't sleep when Seth was missing. She blamed herself. If anything happened to him, she didn't know what she would do.

She drove around looking for Seth all night. She knew she wouldn't find him. She'd already looked everywhere. Still, she wouldn't stop until she found him. She couldn't rest until she knew he was safe. She was supposed to take care of him, and she'd failed. She'd failed at the most important job she'd ever had-being a mom.


	4. The Innocent

Tuesday

Haley couldn't sleep. She knew firsthand how it felt to not know where your child was. She hated that her best friend was feeling that way, and she couldn't do anything to help. Why did bad things happen to good people?

Nate looked at Haley with concern in his eyes. "Hey, you OK?"

Haley shook her head. "Not really. Brooke is worried sick. Sam just lost her mom. She's only fourteen. She's just a kid. I want to help, but there's nothing I can do."

Nate smiled sadly and pulled Haley to him. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back comfortingly.

They went to school early. Haley smiled as she watched her husband shoot hoops. It reminded her of high school. She knew he was busting his butt to get back to where he'd been before he got hurt. "I'm proud of you."

"Come here and show me how proud you are." Nate smiled and pulled his wife toward him.

Haley shoved him away playfully. "You're all sweaty. Hit the showers, Scott." Nate grinned and patted Haley's butt.

They walked into the school together. Haley stopped dead in her tracks. "Nate," she said. Nate looked up in concern. He could tell by Haley's tone that something was wrong. He followed her gaze to a car in the shop class they were passing through. Sam and Seth were curled up in the backseat.

Haley knocked on the window. Sam shot bolt upright. When the teen's eyes met her teacher's, the color drained from Sam's face. Nate took Seth outside to shoot hoops while Haley took Sam to her classroom to talk.

"What happened, Sam?" Haley asked gently.

"Life happened," Sam muttered.

"If someone's hurting you, I can help you," Haley said.

"You want to help me?" Sam asked skeptically. Haley nodded. "Then let me go. Let me take my brother and go."

"Go where? You're sleeping in shop class! You're fourteen years old. Seth is only five years old. There has to be something better out there for you," Haley said.

"You hear horror stories about foster care. And you think it can't be _that_ bad," Sam said. She shook her head and locked eyes with Haley. "It's worse." Haley noticed tears forming in Sam's eyes.

"I can't just pretend this didn't happen," Haley said firmly.

The door opened and Brooke and Seth entered. Brooke's eyes skimmed Sam's frame. She took in the black eyes, the busted lip and the teen's broken demeanor and all of the anger she'd felt at Sam for taking off with Seth melted. Brooke felt nothing but sadness and sympathy for the teen sitting before her.

Seth let go of Brooke's hand and ran toward Sam. He climbed into Sam's lap. Both Haley and Brooke noticed Sam wince in pain as the boy shifted in her lap. He looked at Brooke. "This is Sam."

Brooke noticed Sam tighten her hold on Seth possessively. "Hi Sam. I'm Brooke. I'm fostering Seth."

"I'm sorry I took him. He said you were good to him. Thanks for taking him in," Sam said.

"He's a good kid," Brooke said simply. She hesitated. She didn't know about taking a teenager in, but she knew she couldn't separate Seth from his sister. "I have an extra room. It's yours if you want it."

"What's the catch?" Sam asked skeptically.

"There's no catch. Seth wants to be with his sister. I want to do what's best for him," Brooke replied.

Brooke decided to keep Sam and Seth home from school for the day. They'd just lost their mom. She knew they couldn't have gotten much sleep in the back of a car. They were tired and trying to cope with their loss.

Brooke also felt an irrational fear that the next time she let Seth out of her sight, he'd disappear again. She knew Sam wouldn't take him now that they were together, but it did little to reassure her. She'd had Seth for less than three days and lost him once already. She never wanted to feel that way again. She wanted to keep Seth close at least for a day or two. Eventually the constant nagging fear of losing him would fade.

Brooke showed Sam to her room. "This is your room." She gestured down the hall. "Seth's room is down the hall and mine is right across from his." Sam nodded and set her bag down in her room.

"Did you guys eat breakfast?" Brooke asked. Seth shook his head. Brooke made breakfast and put two plates on the kitchen table.

When Seth and Sam finished eating, Sam took their plates to the sink. "Sam, you don't have to do that," Brooke said.

"Neither do you," Sam replied. She scrubbed the plates clean and put them in the dishwasher.

"Well, thank you," Brooke said. "Fern didn't give me very much for Seth. I saw that you got some of his things. Where's the rest?"

Sam looked at Seth to see if he was listening before she responded. Satisfied that Seth's attention was focused on the TV, Sam said, "Our house."

"We can go get everything today," Brooke said.

Sam shook her head. "Seth doesn't need to go back there. He doesn't understand. He…won't understand why we can't stay."

Brooke nodded. "Haley can watch him after school and we can go."

"I can go alone. You don't have to go," Sam said.

"I'm going with you. You don't have to do this alone," Brooke said firmly. Sam nodded.

Haley came to pick Seth up after school. She'd already picked Jamie up.

"Aunt Brooke!" Jamie yelled as he ran toward Brooke. Brooke picked him up and swung him around. Sam watched how good Brooke was with the little boy and felt a huge sense of relief. She knew Brooke would be good to Seth.

"Hi Seth," Jamie said when Brooke put him down.

"Hi Jamie," Seth said. He tugged on Sam's hand. "This is my sister, Sam."

Jamie looked up at Sam with interest. "What happened to your face?" He asked curiously.

"Jamie!" Haley scolded. "I'm sorry, Sam."

"It's OK. You can always count on kids to tell you what they really think," Sam said with a laugh.

"She fell skateboarding," Seth answered for his sister.

"You can skateboard?" Jamie sounded impressed. Sam nodded.

"Only not really if you fell," Seth pointed out. Sam gave her brother a dirty look and flicked his head.

"Sam, I brought your make-up work from yesterday and today." Haley set a stack of papers down on the table. "Take as much time as you need."

"Thanks, Mrs. Scott," Sam replied.

"You can call me Haley outside of class," Haley said with a smile. She turned to Jamie and Seth. "Now I'm going to get these guys out of here."

"I want to stay with Sam," Seth protested. He clung to Sam's hand for dear life.

"Don't you want to play with Jamie?" Sam asked.

"Are you going to be here when I get back?" Seth asked quietly with fear in his eyes.

"Yeah. I'm not going anywhere," Sam assured him.

"Promise?" Seth whispered.

"I promise," Sam replied.

When Haley left with the boys, Brooke and Sam went to the Walker house. Brooke parked her BMW in front. Sam didn't make any move to get out. Brooke knew she might need a minute. Even though Sam acted tough, she had to be hurting inside.

Sam sat there for several minutes. Finally she opened the car door and stepped out. Brooke reached for Sam's hand and they walked toward the house together. Brooke looked at Sam. "I'm going to be right here with you." Sam nodded. The teen unlocked the door.

Brooke looked at the family pictures on the walls. She smiled sadly. Seth had always been adorable. It looked like they'd been a happy family. She wondered if they'd ever be that happy again. She would do everything she could to make them happy.

Brooke heard Sam crying and looked for the teen frantically. She found Sam on the floor of the master bedroom with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around herself sobbing.

In an instant, Brooke sank down to the floor and threw her arms around Sam. She knew she wasn't the mom Sam wanted to comfort her, but someone was better than no one. Sam leaned her head against Brooke's shoulder and cried, her tears soaking through Brooke's shirt.

Sam looked embarrassed when she finally stopped crying. She wouldn't look at Brooke. "I'm sorry," Sam mumbled.

"Hey, you don't have anything to be sorry for. It's OK to feel sad," Brooke said gently.

"Your shirt's all wet," Sam said quietly.

Brooke smiled. "I have lots of shirts."

"Perk of the job?" Sam said with a smile. The teen allowed Brooke to pull her to her feet. She picked up the suitcases she'd packed. Brooke took one of them from her.

Sam felt a sense of closure as she locked the door behind her. She knew this was probably the last time she'd ever set foot in the house she'd grown up in. Her life as she knew it was over.

Brooke and Sam stopped at Haley's to pick Seth up. Brooke went in to say hi to Haley. Nate was playing basketball with Jamie and Seth in the driveway. Sam watched as Nate held each of the kids up and let them dunk the ball.

"Sam, did you see me? I dunked the ball!" Seth said loudly.

Sam smiled. "Just like Mike."

"Did you see me?" Jamie asked.

Sam nodded. "You guys are both good. You could give the Lakers a run for their money." Nate smirked.

"Can you do a trick on your skateboard?" Jamie asked hopefully.

"Yeah, she can," Seth answered for Sam.

Sam retrieved her skateboard from Brooke's BMW. She skateboarded along the street and built up momentum before doing a kickflip. Jamie watched in awe. "That's so cool! How'd you do that?"

"She can do lots of tricks," Seth bragged.

"Do another one," Jamie said. He looked up at Sam with pleading eyes.

Sam smirked. She started skateboarding and was in the middle of a 360 spin when Brooke and Haley came out. "Sam!" Brooke said sharply with a hint of anger.

Sam looked up in surprise. She finished the spin and skateboarded over to the front porch, stopping expertly just short of Brooke and Haley. "What?"

Brooke glared at Sam. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be skateboarding without a helmet. Are you trying to fall on your face again?"

Sam looked confused. "Again? What are you talking about? I never fall."

"Then what happened?" Brooke demanded.

Sam remembered her appearance and stared at the ground. "Oh yeah…I…forgot."

"Sam," Brooke said sternly. She waited for Sam to make eye contact. "What happened? Did you really fall or did something else happen?"

"I-" Sam clammed up when Seth appeared at her side.

Brooke had no intention of dropping the subject, but she knew she wasn't going to get anything out of Sam in front of Seth. Brooke _would_ find out what happened, though.

Brooke took Sam and Seth home and started cooking dinner. When they finished eating, Sam once again did the dishes. Then Sam helped Seth get ready for bed.

Brooke felt a little jealous that Sam was taking care of Seth. She really wanted to take care of him. She'd felt like a mom for three short days and she'd loved every minute of it. Ever since Sam entered the picture, Brooke felt a little like a spectator looking in on a family from the outside. She just wanted to be part of the family.

Seth and Sam sat in Seth's bed. Sam had her arm around Seth and he was leaning against her comfortably. "Tell me a story."

Sam told her brother the story of the Three Little Bears.

"Goodnight, Sam." Seth spread his arms out as far as he could. "I love you this much."

"Oh yeah?" Sam did the same with her own arms. "Well, I love you _this_ much." She pulled the covers over Seth and turned the light out.

Sam went to her bedroom after tucking Seth in. She shut the door behind her. She didn't want to talk to Brooke. She had a feeling she hadn't heard the last of her slip up at Haley's house. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid as to brag that she never fell when falling off her skateboard was the only reasonable excuse she could come up with for her appearance.

Sam felt weak for letting Patrick hurt her. She almost felt as though it were her own fault that she'd gotten hurt. If she'd been stronger, maybe things would have played out differently. She was embarrassed. She didn't want to talk about what had happened to anyone, not even Jack. She sure as hell didn't want to tell Brooke. She'd only known Brooke for a day.

Sam was lying on her bed reading. She was too scared to go to sleep. She didn't want to see Patrick in her dreams.

A little after midnight Seth opened Sam's door. Sam set her book down and gestured for Seth to join her. Seth climbed into bed with Sam and got under the covers.

"What are you doing up so late?" Sam whispered. She didn't want to wake Brooke up. Brooke had been pretty good to them so far. Sam had a feeling that most foster homes were more like the Bryants' house than Brooke Davis' house. Sam and Seth needed to be on their best behavior so Brooke didn't send them packing.

"I had-" Seth started loudly.

"Shh. We don't want to wake Brooke up. Remember what I told you earlier?" Sam scolded.

Seth nodded. "Sorry. I had a nightmare," he said a little more quietly.

"Do you want to sleep in my bed?" Sam offered. Seth nodded and snuggled against her. "Do you want the light on or off?" Sam asked.

"On," Seth murmured sleepily. He fell back asleep within minutes.

Sam fought to stay awake, but eventually she drifted off into an uneasy sleep. She tossed and turned, whimpering occasionally as Patrick haunted her in her sleep, but she didn't scream. Seth slept soundly despite his sister writhing around.


	5. Follow Through

**Thanks for the reviews! Sorry if the last chapter felt rushed. I didn't want to drag out Sam moving in with Brooke, and a lot of the other scenarios I thought of would have taken longer. It's not going to be a smooth transition to a happy family, though, so you'll still see some tension with Sam and Brooke at first like in the show...Sam just won't run away as much because Seth's at Brooke's. I'm working on the next chapter and it's my favorite so far. Let me know what kind of scenes you're liking best (i.e. Sam/Seth, Seth/Brooke, Sam/Brooke, Seth/Jamie, Seth/Jamie/Sam, etc.) so I can make sure to include them. I'm not sure if the scenes with Seth and Jamie are good or boring. **

* * *

Wednesday

Brooke woke up and started breakfast. She went to wake Seth up first. She wanted to help him get ready, and she knew that would never happen if Sam were awake.

Brooke's heart stopped when she saw Seth's bed empty. She realized she was probably overreacting. He was probably in the bathroom or something, but she was still a little paranoid after losing him on Monday.

When Brooke couldn't find Seth anywhere else, she knocked on Sam's door and then opened it. Seth and Sam were curled up in Sam's bed. Seth was wide-awake. He held a finger to his lips. "Shh!" He slid out from under the covers and tiptoed to Brooke so as not to wake Sam.

Brooke picked Seth up and set him down on a barstool to eat breakfast. She stood across from him and looked him in the eyes. "Why didn't you sleep in your own bed, Buddy?"

"I had a nightmare," Seth replied.

"Why didn't you come get me?" Brooke asked.

Seth hesitated. He looked like he wanted to say something, but all he did was shrug.

"Seth, look at me," Brooke said firmly. Seth looked up. "Why didn't you come get me?"

"Sam told me not to bug you because if I do you might not let us stay," Seth said quickly.

Brooke sighed. "This house is your home now. You can come to me if you need anything. You're not bugging me and I'm NOT going to ask you to leave, OK?" Seth stared at his plate and inclined his head slightly. "Seth?"

Seth made eye contact and nodded. "OK."

Brooke went to wake Sam up. She was thrashing around violently in her sleep. "Sam. Sam! SAM!"

For the first time since Friday, Sam woke up in a comfortable bed. For just a moment, she thought it had all been a bad dream. Then she saw Brooke.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," Sam lied. She looked around frantically. "Seth…where's Seth?"

"He's fine," Brooke replied. The look on Sam's face told Brooke the answer didn't suffice. "He's eating breakfast. Did you tell him that I might not let you guys stay?" Brooke asked with a hint of anger.

"I just told him not to bug you," Sam said quietly.

"He's not bugging me! I want him here and I'm NOT going to ask him to leave!" Brooke said angrily.

"I'm sorry. I just…don't want him to end up in a bad foster home. He's five. He does things sometimes. He's my brother and I love him, but he drives me crazy part of the time. I didn't want him to bug you," Sam explained.

"It's OK," Brooke said gently. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She knew she needed to get to the bottom of what had happened in the foster home Sam had been sent to originally. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Seth opened the door.

"Brooke, are you mad at Sam? I didn't mean to get her in trouble," Seth said.

Brooke smiled. "No, Sweetheart. I'm not mad at Sam. You did the right thing. You should always tell the truth."

While Brooke helped Seth get ready, Sam took a shower. Sam had been in the bathroom for over half an hour. Brooke was beginning to get worried. She knocked on the door. Sam opened the door and Brooke instantly realized what the teen had been doing. Sam had heavy make-up caked onto her face in a failed attempt to cover up her black eyes. "Sorry. I'm almost done," Sam said apologetically.

"Do you want some help?" Brooke asked.

Sam shook her head. "It's no use. I've tried everything. I can't cover it up."

"I can help you if you want," Brooke said. She looked into the teen's eyes. She smirked in an attempt to lighten the mood. "My company _does_ have a make up line. I'm actually pretty good at doing make up if I do say so myself."

Sam smiled a little. "If you're sure you don't mind."

Brooke used make-up remover to wipe off what Sam already had on her face. Brooke's fingers gently skimmed the bruises. "That must have been one hell of a fall." Sam looked down at the tile floor. Brooke tipped Sam's chin up to force the teen to make eye contact. "You can talk to me about anything. What happened, Samantha?"

"Never mind. I don't need your help," Sam said quickly. She started for the bathroom door, but Brooke stopped her. Sam flashed back to when she was trying to leave the Bryants' living room to go to bed and Patrick blocked her exit.

Brooke saw fear in Sam's eyes and instantly backed off. The last thing she wanted to do was scare the teen off. "I can't help you if you don't want to be helped," Brooke said sadly.

Brooke dropped Sam and Seth off at school before going to Clothes Over Bros. Jack was waiting for Sam. He hadn't seen her since her mom died. He looked a little taken aback by her appearance, but he didn't bombard her with questions. He was always quiet and he could sense that Sam didn't feel like talking. He pulled her to him and hugged her close. Sam stiffened a little at his touch. Every time anyone touched her, it brought her back to the Bryants' living room. She could still feel Patrick's hands on her. She hated him for doing this to her.

"I don't know if I can do this. Everyone's going to stare. Everyone's going to ask a billion questions. No one even knows about my mom," Sam said.

"Sam, I need to tell you something. The school sent home a letter about your mom. Everyone knows," Jack said.

"Even better," Sam said sarcastically. "People I've never even talked to before will be lining up to tell me they're sorry. They can take their fake apologies and stuff them. I am so sick of everyone telling me they're sorry! Sorry doesn't bring my mom back!"

"We could always ditch," Jack suggested.

Jack and Sam went to the river court. They sat on the bleachers with one of the headphones for Sam's iPod in Sam's ear and the other in Jack's ear.

"_Should I bite my tongue_

_Until blood soaks my shirt?_

_We'll never fall apart_

_So tell me why this hurts so much_

_My hands are at your throat_

_I think I hate you_

_But still we'll say remember when"_

Sam had made a playlist with bands who were mad at the world. Sam turned the volume up when Story of the Year's _Until the Day I Die_ came on. It was the perfect song for a time like this. Sam was so angry with everyone and everything. She was even angry with her mom.

Rebecca should have been more careful. If she had been, maybe she would have seen that car coming. Maybe she wouldn't be dead. Did Rebecca ever think about what would happen to her kids? She'd never even made a will. Sam and Seth were in foster care _because_ of Rebecca. Sam knew it was wrong to be mad at her mom. What kind of person gets mad at a dead person?

Worst of all, Sam knew she was partly to blame for her mom's death. Rebecca died on her way to the assembly. On any other day, Rebecca would have been safe and sound at work in the afternoon.

Brooke breathed a sigh of relief when Seth walked out of the school building and climbed into the backseat. This was the first time she'd picked him up from school since the day Sam took him. Brooke wondered how long it would take her to stop worrying every time she wasn't there to keep an eye on her foster son. "Hey Buddy. How was school?"

"Good. We played basketball in gym and I scored eight points!" Seth replied.

"Do you want to play basketball on a team?" Brooke asked. She'd already talked to Skillz about Seth joining Jamie's team. Seth nodded.

Brooke pulled up to Tree Hill High School to pick Sam up. Haley saw her and approached the car. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Picking Sam up," Brooke replied as though it was obvious.

"Brooke, Sam wasn't in class today," Haley said, her voice laced with concern.

Brooke glanced back at Seth. She didn't want to upset him. "Do you think she ran again?"

Haley shook her head. "Not without…" She glanced meaningfully toward the backseat.

"I got more than I bargained for with her," Brooke muttered. She'd wanted a baby or a little kid, not a rebellious teenager. When she agreed to take Sam in, she'd thought the teen would be happy to be with her brother. Instead, Sam seemed completely miserable.

Haley smiled sadly. "She's fourteen. She's been through more than anyone her age should have to."

Brooke took Seth home and made him a snack. After he finished eating, he started working on his homework. Brooke was beginning to get worried because Sam still hadn't come home, but she knew Haley was right. Sam loved her brother more than anything. There's no way she would run off without him.

Sam finally walked through the door a little after 5:00. She didn't acknowledge Brooke. She joined Seth at the table. "Hey. What are you working on?"

"I have to do my workbook," Seth said. Sam looked over his shoulder to check his answers.

"Sam, can I talk to you?" Brooke said. Her tone of voice made it clear that she wasn't asking. Sam nodded and followed Brooke to the other room. "Imagine my surprise when I went to pick you up from school and you weren't there." Sam rolled her eyes. "I was worried."

"You don't have to worry about me, Brooke. I'm not a little kid. I can take care of myself." Sam smirked.

"You shouldn't have to. You're fourteen years old! You may not be a little kid, but you _are_ STILL a kid," Brooke said.

Sam looked angry. She opened her mouth to say something and then shut it abruptly. She knew she'd regret it if she talked back to Brooke. She didn't want to say something stupid and get kicked out. She knew Brooke wanted Seth, not her. She didn't want to be separated from him again. "Whatever you say," Sam finally said. It was much less hostile than what Sam originally wanted to say, but her tone was still a little sarcastic.

Brooke looked into Sam's eyes. "If you want to say something, say it." Brooke's tone and expression would be enough to frighten most people into backing down.

Unlike most people, Sam wasn't scared of throwing down with Brooke. She wasn't scared of much of anything anymore. The only thing that scared her right now was losing her brother. She'd already lost everything else. She couldn't lose Seth, too. It took everything Sam had to keep her cool. She was secretly itching for a fight to release all the pent up anger inside of her, and Brooke was asking for it. Sam shook her head. "No, I'm good."


	6. In The End

Thursday

Brooke woke up with a start. She felt like someone was watching her and felt a little creeped out until she spotted Seth standing in the doorway. "Hey Buddy. Come here," she said with a big smile.

Seth hurried to her and climbed up into bed with her. Brooke instinctively pulled him in for a huge hug. She rubbed his back comfortingly. "Did you have another nightmare?" She asked gently. Seth nodded and leaned his head against her shoulder. "Do you want to tell me what it was about?"

"I dreamt that Sam was in an accident like Mom," Seth said shakily.

"I know that must have been scary. Sam's OK, though. Everything's going to be OK," Brooke said.

Seth fell asleep in Brooke's arms. She smiled as she watched him sleeping. He looked so sweet. She was totally falling for the little boy.

In the other room, Sam was also having a nightmare. "No. No! Please," the teen cried out as she writhed around in her bed. She shot bolt upright. Her heart was thudding rapidly in her chest. She sat there breathing heavily for several minutes until she finally calmed down.

Sam looked at the clock on her cell phone. It was only 6:07 am. She didn't need to get up for nearly an hour, but she was _not_ going back to sleep. She was safer awake than asleep.

Sam knew it was just a dream, but it felt so real. She felt as though Patrick really had been on top of her and inside her. She got in the shower. Her own tears mixed with the water falling from the showerhead.

Brooke heard water running and looked at the clock. She was surprised Sam was up this early. Weren't teens supposed to sleep in?

Brooke reluctantly shifted Seth out of her arms and got up to start breakfast. She would have been content to lie there holding Seth for hours.

Sam emerged from the bathroom freshly showered. She looked surprised to see Brooke up and in the kitchen. "Did I wake you up?" Sam asked.

"No," Brooke lied. "What are you doing up so early?"

Sam shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."

Brooke pushed a plate of eggs and bacon toward Sam. "Can you go to school today?"

Sam looked amused. "Yesterday you had a problem with me not going."

"No, I had a problem with not knowing where you were," Brooke corrected with a stern expression.

Seth came out in his pajamas and climbed up onto the stool next to Sam. Brooke put a plate in front of him. "Why did you get up early?" He asked Sam.

"Couldn't sleep," Sam repeated the answer she'd given Brooke a few minutes ago.

"You never get up early. You always sleep in _really_ late," Seth pointed out.

"No, I always _try_ to sleep in, but _someone_ wakes me up," Sam teased.

Seth smiled. "It's more fun when you're awake."

"It's more fun when you're asleep," Sam retorted with a smile. She knew the dig would be over Seth's head. He looked confused.

The rest of the day went better than Brooke expected. For the first time since she'd taken Seth and Sam in, both were waiting to be picked up after school. The Ravens had a basketball game that night. Brooke was looking forward to taking Seth.

"Sam, are you sure you don't want to come?" Brooke asked.

"I can think of a hundred things I'd rather do," Sam replied.

As soon as Brooke and Seth left, Sam texted Jack to come over. Sam showed Jack around the house. He looked impressed. "How many people live here?"

Sam smirked. "What did you expect? I _am_ living with Brooke Davis."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Jack said.

Sam rolled her eyes. "You are such a guy. She's a famous fashion designer."

"She's famous? What's she doing hanging out with you?" Jack smirked.

"I took Seth from her, and she wanted him. I think she was scared I'd keep taking him so she took me in," Sam explained.

"Everyone wants babies. No one wants teenagers," Jack said. He knew the foster care system all too well.

Sam looked into Jack's eyes. "I'm sorry. I never could have imagined how bad it was for you. I have a new respect for you. You're the strongest person I know," she said softly.

"You're strong," Jack said with a smile. He brushed a lock of Sam's hair back from her face. He kissed her.

Seth saw Jamie and ran into the gym ahead of Brooke. Brooke hurried after him. Brooke and Haley sat together so they could talk during the game. Seth and Jamie sat in the row just below. They'd become fast friends.

Jamie was pointing to each of the players and listing their names off.

"I can't believe you know all of them!" Seth was very impressed.

"My dad's the coach," Jamie said with a matter of fact tone.

"That's like the coolest job ever," Seth said.

"He's going to play in the NBA someday. _That's_ the coolest job ever," Jamie said proudly. "I want to play in the NBA, too."

"Are you going to play for the Ravens?" Seth asked.

Jamie nodded. "My dad, my uncle and my Grandpa Dan played for the Ravens. Every Scott man does. You should play, too. Then we can play together and we'll get all the girls."

"I don't know if I'm good enough," Seth admitted.

"My dad can help you. He's your uncle," Jamie replied.

Seth shook his head. "I don't think I have any uncles. If I do, I've never met them."

"He's your uncle because you're Aunt Brooke's kid," Jamie insisted.

"I'm not really her kid, though. My mom died," Seth explained.

"You don't have to be related to be family. Aunt Brooke's not Mama's sister, but she's still my aunt," Jamie said.

Sam pulled Jack into her room. She lay down on her bed and patted it in invitation for him to do the same. Jack lay down beside her.

"I think we should have sex," Sam said. She'd been thinking about it. She hated that Patrick was the only person who had ever been inside her in the most intimate of ways. She wanted to replace all the bad memories of Patrick with good memories. She wanted to get Patrick out of her head.

Jack looked surprised. "I thought you wanted to wait."

"I changed my mind. I'm a girl. It happens," Sam retorted.

Jack lifted Sam's shirt. He unbuttoned his own shirt and discarded it. He hovered over her. He kissed her. He ran his hands down her sides. Sam flinched when he touched her side where Patrick had kicked her, but Jack was too preoccupied to notice. When he reached her jeans, he unbuttoned them.

Sam felt Jack touch her. She knew it was Jack, but she saw Patrick. She felt Jack on top of her and flashed back to the night in the Bryants' living room. Patrick was on top of her. He was hurting her. "No. No! Please," Sam cried out.

Jack froze. He looked at Sam with a confused expression. Confusion was quickly replaced with concern. Sam looked up at him in pure terror.

"Sam? What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Jack asked nervously.

Sam didn't say anything. She hadn't heard Jack. She heard Patrick's voice in her head. It was drowning out everything else. She wanted it to stop.

Seth and Jamie cheered the loudest of anyone in the gym. The excitement wore the boys out. Seth fell asleep in the car on the way home. Brooke carefully lifted him up and carried him to his bed. He instinctively curled his arms around Brooke's neck. She felt very much like his mom. She tucked him in and kissed his forehead.

Brooke knocked on Sam's door and then opened it. She walked in on Jack hovering over Sam. Brooke stared in shock, but it quickly turned to anger.

Jack looked up when the door opened. He frantically looked back and forth between Sam, who was still frozen in fear, and Brooke, who looked really pissed off. "Hi," he said weakly.

"Get out of my house!" Brooke shouted. She didn't have to tell Jack twice. He grabbed his clothes off the floor and fled the room.

As soon as Jack got off of Sam, the flashbacks of Patrick stopped. Sam felt a pang of guilt as she watched Jack make a hasty retreat. She started to get up as well, but Brooke stopped her. "Don't move," she said with venom in her voice.

"You said to get out," Sam pointed out.

"I meant the half-naked boy you had in YOUR bed in MY house!" Brooke screamed.

"I didn't have a boy in _your_ bed," Sam retorted.

"Watch yourself," Brooke said sternly. "You're fourteen years old! What the hell were you thinking?"

There was no way Sam was going to tell Brooke what she'd really been thinking. She didn't know what Brooke wanted her to say. "I don't know."

"From now on, I want to know if there's anyone in MY house and NO boys in the bedroom!" Brooke said angrily.

Sam nodded. She reached for her shirt. Brooke noticed the foot-shaped bruise on Sam's ribcage for the first time. She grabbed Sam's arm to stop her before the teen could slip her shirt over her head. "What happened?" Sam followed Brooke's gaze to her bruise. She tried to pull away, but Brooke held her in place. When the teen said nothing, Brooke hazarded a guess. "Samantha, did that boy…"

"NO! Jack wouldn't hurt a fly," Sam said quickly. She stared at her bedspread. "The foster home I was in before…it wasn't so good. It's not a big deal."

"It _is_ a big deal," Brooke said firmly. "What happened?"

"He was drunk. He used me as a punching bag," Sam said with a shrug.

"Your foster dad?" Brooke asked. Sam nodded. Brooke sighed. She'd known the excuse about Sam falling was bull. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Sam replied.

"It's not your fault either, Samantha. You don't deserve that," Brooke said.

"Don't say anything in front of Seth, OK?" Sam looked into Brooke's eyes.

"I won't, but you do have to tell the police," Brooke said firmly.

"No," Sam said quickly with a panicked look on her face.

"You have to tell them so that ass doesn't have a chance to hurt anyone else. Think about other kids. Think about Seth," Brooke said. She knew Sam would hate the idea of Seth or another kid his age getting hurt.

Brooke called Haley and asked her to come over to watch Seth so she could take Sam to the police station.

Brooke sat beside Sam holding the teen's hand. A detective sat across the table from Sam asking her questions about what happened.

"I was reading and he was watching TV," Sam said.

"Where were you? Where was he?" The police officer asked.

"I was sitting on an armchair and he was sitting on the couch in the living room," Sam replied. "I got up to go to bed and-"

"What time was it?" The police officer interrupted.

_It's only nine thirty. You're not going to bed yet. You're a big girl_. Sam rubbed her head as though the motion would get Patrick's voice out of her head. "Nine thirty."

The officer raised his eyebrows. "You remember the time exactly?" He asked skeptically. He'd interviewed too many witnesses and victims, and they rarely remembered exact timing. Sam nodded. "How do you remember that? It was almost a week ago."

"He said it's only nine thirty and told me I wasn't going to bed yet," Sam said quietly.

"What happened next?" The police officer asked.

"He stopped me," Sam replied.

"How did he stop you?" The officer asked.

"He blocked me. I couldn't get past him," Sam said. Could she have gotten past him if she'd tried harder?

"Did he grab you or touch you physically?" The officer pressed.

Yes, he'd touched her. He'd been inside of her. Sam closed her eyes. "Obviously. You've seen the bruises."

"I'm going to need you to tell me what happened," the police officer said.

"He hit me. I fell. Then he kicked me." Sam stared at the floor. The police officer had conducted enough interviews to know when someone was lying. He knew Sam was lying about something, but he didn't know what. The bruises were consistent with her story.

"You said he'd been drinking?" The police officer asked. Sam nodded. "How much did he have to drink?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. A lot."

"We have to get a few pictures," the police officer said. He put a hand on Sam's back to guide her out of the room and he felt her stiffen. He had a hunch he knew what Sam was hiding. While a female officer photographed Sam's bruises, he pulled Brooke aside. "Have you noticed anything unusual about Sam's behavior?"

Brooke sighed. "I don't know. She's been with me less than a week. She just lost her mom. She's distant."

"Has she been especially uncomfortable with physical contact?" The officer asked.

"She's close to her brother. She hasn't gotten close to anyone else…except the boy in her room. I took her brother to a basketball game tonight. When I came home, she was making out with a boy. That's how I saw the bruise on her side," Brooke replied.

Sam felt self-conscious as she stood with her shirt off and allowed a complete stranger to take pictures of her. "Turn to the left," the female officer instructed.

Sam had tears in her eyes when they left the station.

"I know that was hard. I'm proud of you," Brooke said.


	7. The Art of Losing

Friday

"Do I have to wear a tie?" Seth whined.

Brooke sighed. She knew today was going to be hard. Rebecca's funeral was today. Seth had been unusually difficult. "Yes. Everyone is dressing up. Even Sam is wearing a dress."

As if on cue, Sam appeared in the doorway wearing a black dress. Brooke looked up in surprise and smiled a little. She'd only seen Sam in jeans and hooded sweatshirts. Sam looked really pretty when she dressed up. "You look beautiful," Brooke said.

"You're just saying that because the dress is from Clothes Over Bros." Sam smirked. "Do you need any help?"

Seth looked up at Sam with puppy dog eyes and an adorable pout. "I don't want to wear a tie."

"Jack's wearing a tie," Sam said. She knew Seth looked up to Jack. Just as she expected, Seth stopped fighting and allowed Brooke to fix his tie.

"Jack's coming?" Brooke asked with a disapproving look.

"Yes, my boyfriend is going to be there for me at my mom's funeral," Sam replied with a hint of sarcasm. She gave Brooke a look daring her to argue.

"I miss Jack," Seth said. He was completely unaware of the tension between Sam and Brooke.

"He misses you, too," Sam replied with a smile. The doorbell rang. "That's probably him. Brooke, do you want Jack to come into _your_ house or should he just wait outside?"

Brooke glared at Sam. "He can come in, but Sam, NO boys in your bedroom."

Sam opened the door. Jack stood there nervously. He looked like he was scared to touch her. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to come in?" Sam said sarcastically. Jack followed her into the house and they sat down on the couch. Jack kept his distance. "I'm sorry about last night," Sam said quietly.

"Sam, you said we should have sex," Jack said defensively.

"I know. It was weird," Sam mumbled.

"Yeah, it was weird. You freaked out," Jack replied.

"Can we just forget it ever happened? I don't want things to be weird between us," Sam said.

"Jack!" Seth yelled as he ran toward the couch and jumped into Jack's lap.

Jack grinned. "Hey Little Dude." His grin faded when he saw Brooke. "Hi," he said nervously.

"Hi," Brooke said in an un-friendly tone.

Brooke, Seth, Sam and Jack were the first to arrive at the cemetery. Rebecca's friends from work shuffled in one by one. Haley, Nate, Peyton and Lucas all attended the funeral for Brooke's benefit even though none of them knew Rebecca. All of the attendees offered their condolences to Sam and Seth before gathering around.

Sam was trying her hardest to stay strong for her brother, but emotions were building up inside her and she felt like she was about to explode.

Sam was filled with an intense fury that scared her. She was so sick of everyone telling her how sorry they were for her loss. Sorry didn't bring Rebecca back! The apologies did nothing but remind Sam how much she'd lost that she could never get back as if she could forget. She was mad at the driver who hit her mom. He'd lived, and Rebecca had died. As far as Sam was concerned, he was a killer. Most of all, she was mad at herself for wanting Rebecca to attend the stupid assembly in the first place. Warring with the fury was a heart-wrenching sadness. Sam missed her mom every minute of every day. She missed Rebecca so much it hurt. It was too much. She couldn't hold it inside any longer.

"In the midst of life we are death. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

Tears began streaming down Sam's face, clouding her vision. She cried silently, almost as if she hoped that by not making a sound she wouldn't alert her brother to her anguish. She turned away from everyone and buried her head in Jack's shoulder. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, still uncomfortable with touching her after what had happened the night before. He could feel her body shaking as she cried and he instinctively rubbed her back.

Of course, Seth notice everything his big sister did. He pulled on Brooke's hand. "Brooke, why is Sam crying?"

Brooke looked at the innocent child who didn't fully understand what was happening and sighed. "She's sad."

"Why? You said that we're celebrating Mom's life. Celebrations are happy," Seth said.

"Yeah, but we're also saying goodbye to your mom, and goodbyes are hard," Brooke tried to explain.

The coffin was lowered into the ground. Sam shifted her head so she was still leaning against Jack, but she could see her mom's coffin disappear through blurry, tear-filled eyes. Seth took what Brooke had said literally and stepped closer. "I love you, Mom. Goodbye," he said softly.

"She can't hear you. She's dead," Sam said harshly. Everyone stared at Sam. Seth looked like he was about to cry. Sam was possibly the most shocked of anyone by her statement. She didn't want to hurt Seth. She never wanted to hurt him.

"I'm sorry," Sam stammered. She looked around at all of the faces staring back at her. None of them understood. She shook her head. "I can't do this."

Sam staggered away. Brooke glanced back and forth between Seth standing beside her and Sam's retreating form.

"I'll go," Haley offered.

"Actually, mind if I go?" Peyton said to everyone's surprise.

"You barely know her," Haley pointed out.

"No, but I know how she feels," Peyton replied.

Sam heard footsteps behind her and quickened her pace. She felt as though the world was closing in on her. She just needed to get away. She stumbled and fell to the ground.

Jack helped Sam get back on her feet. She looked completely broken. Her face was streaked with tears. Her brand new dress was torn and dirty. "Sam, are you OK?"

"You should go, Jack," Sam said.

"Sam…"

"I said GO!" Sam yelled. Jack hesitated before giving in and leaving.

Sam sat down on a stone bench on the other side of the cemetery from where her mom had just been buried. She heard someone approaching. "JACK I SAID GO!"

"It's a good thing I'm not Jack."

Sam looked up at Peyton. "Just leave me alone," she said quietly.

Peyton shook her head. "No one really wants to be left alone." She sat down on the bench beside Sam.

"The ONLY person I want is my mom and you don't look like my mom!" Sam yelled.

"I used to say people always leave. I had two moms and they both died," Peyton said. She paused and smiled a little. "This is usually the part when people tell me they're sorry."

"Sorry doesn't bring people back. It just reminds you that they're gone and nothing can ever bring them back," Sam said with a hint of anger.

"I know. Most people don't know. They don't understand what it feels like to lose the person you love most in the world," Peyton said.

"And you understand?" Sam retorted.

"I understand more than you know. I was adopted. My adoptive mom died in a car accident when I was little. And Ellie, my birth mom, had cancer," Peyton replied.

Sam looked up in surprise. "I'm sorry for being such a bitch."

Peyton smiled. "It's OK. In high school on the anniversary of the day my mom died I totally went off on Brooke during cheerleading practice."

"Does it ever stop hurting?" Sam asked.

Peyton shook her head. "No, it never stops hurting, but it gets better."


	8. World on Fire

Monday

The weekend had dragged on. Seth had been increasingly difficult. Sam pretty much kept to herself. The teen spent nearly every waking hour holed up in her room. Brooke tried to talk to her, but Sam practically bit Brooke's head off. Brooke felt a little relieved when Monday morning rolled around. She hoped that going back to school and having a sense of normalcy would help.

Sam looked exhausted when she came out for breakfast. Her eyes were drooping and her movements were sluggish. Brooke found this odd because Sam had spent the better part of the weekend sleeping. What Brooke didn't know was that Sam had only been pretending to sleep when Brooke poked her head because she didn't want to talk. Sam hadn't had a decent night's sleep since her sole night at the Bryants' and it was starting to catch up with her.

Sam waited for Jack by his locker. He saw her and his smile faded. He walked past her, intentionally ignoring her.

Sam followed hot on his tail. "Jack. Jack! Wait! I was a bitch. I know. I'm sorry, OK?"

Jack stopped and turned to face Sam. He nodded to indicate that he accepted her apology. He pulled Sam to him and kissed her. He was tentative at first, the memory of the last time he'd kissed her in her room still fresh in his mind. When Sam returned the kiss, he deepened the kiss. No sooner had Sam closed her eyes than the flashbacks of Patrick started. She could almost smell the stale beer on his breath even though she was in the school hallway with Jack. She tried to push the image of Patrick from her mind. She told herself it was just a kiss.

Jack moved Sam, so her back was against the locker for support, and ran his hands down the length of her slim frame. He stopped at her waist, holding her hips and pulling her close against his body. Sam felt the hard locker against her back and Jack's warm body in front of her. She felt trapped. _The armchair was directly behind Sam and Patrick was in front of her, blocking her exit. She had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide._

Haley walked towards her classroom. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Sam mid-make out session with Jack. She smiled a little. Sam was more like Brooke than she'd realized.

Haley approached the teens. She opened her mouth to lecture them, but stopped when she noticed the expression of pure terror on Sam's face. She noticed that Jack was holding Sam's waist and her back was up against the wall and wondered if he was forcing himself on her. "Excuse me."

Jack pulled away from Sam sheepishly. Sam's eyes fluttered open and Haley noticed tears forming in them. "Sam, what's going on here?" Haley asked, her voice laced with concern.

"What does it look like?" Sam retorted.

"It looks like you were making out in the hall." Haley narrowed her eyes suspiciously. It looked like a lot more than an innocent kiss.

"You should be a detective," Sam said sarcastically.

"OK, you know what, come with me," Haley said sternly. Sam and Jack started after Haley. "Jack, you may go." Jack hesitated with a look of confusion on his face but eventually turned to go to his first period class. Sam followed Haley to her classroom.

"Sam, what's really going on?" Haley asked. She looked into Sam's eyes.

"We were really making out in the hall, and it's really none of your business," Sam muttered.

"Did he try to do anything you weren't ready for?" Haley asked.

"No," Sam replied quickly.

"OK, Sam, you looked really scared and you had tears in your eyes. If Jack's hurting you, you can tell me, and I can get you some help," Haley said gently.

"He's NOT hurting me." Sam shook her head vehemently. "You DON'T understand."

"I can't understand unless you talk to me," Haley replied.

Sam stared at the floor. "The foster home I was in before was bad." Haley stared at Sam, waiting for the teen to continue. "I didn't fall skateboarding."

Haley already knew the bruises were the handiwork of Sam's foster dad, but now she had a sickening suspicion that this jerk had done something much worse as well. "Did he do anything more than hit you?" Haley asked with fear in her eyes. Sam nodded. "Sam?"

Sam did not want to talk to Haley about what had happened. Hell, she didn't want to talk to _anyone_ about it. She wouldn't have even told her mom if Rebecca were still alive. Of course, if Rebecca was here none of this would have happened. Sam just wanted to forget it _had_ ever happened. Talking about it would make it more real. Haley obviously knew Sam wasn't telling the whole story, though, and she wasn't giving up until she got the truth. Sam had no choice. She would have to admit what had happened whether she was ready or not. She looked up with watery eyes. "He raped me."

Haley sighed. She couldn't believe everything bad that had happened to Sam in the last week. It was too much for anyone, let alone a fourteen year old. Haley's heart went out to Sam. "Have you told anyone?"

Sam shook her head. "Please don't tell anyone. I just want to forget it ever happened. I just want to forget the last week of my life ever happened."

"Sam, you can't just forget something like that. An attack changes you. When I was in high school, a student brought a gun to school. He held everyone in the Tutoring Center, including me, hostage at gunpoint. I've _never_ forgotten that day," Haley said.

"I know," Sam said quietly. "I just want to get it-him-out of my head, but every time Jack touches me the memories come flooding back."

"I think you should talk to someone," Haley said gently.

"What do you call this?" Sam said with a hint of sarcasm.

Haley smiled a little. "I meant a professional."

"A shrink? No! I'm not crazy!" Sam said with a hint of anger.

"No, you're not, but you're going through a lot right now and a therapist might be able to help you through it," Haley replied.

"Thanks, but I can take care of myself. I don't need a shrink," Sam muttered. She picked her backpack up and started for the door.

"Sam, you need to talk to Brooke," Haley said firmly.

"No!" Sam replied.

"I can talk to her if you want," Haley offered.

"I don't want to talk to her, and I don't want you to talk to her! Please don't make this worse!" Sam cried out.

Sam didn't give Haley a chance to respond. Haley didn't know what to do. She knew she should tell Brooke, but she was the only person Sam had trusted so far. If Haley broke Sam's trust, would the teen ever trust anyone again? Maybe if Haley gave her a few days, Sam would come around. Haley just hoped for Sam's sake that she came around before she fell apart.


	9. Bent

**Thanks for the reviews! This chapter isn't very exciting, but it's a transition chapter. Brooke will find out what really happened to Sam soon. Julian will make an appearance soon...probably 2 chapters from this one.**

* * *

Tuesday

"Seth, do you want to tell me what happened?" Brooke asked with her hands on her hips. She'd just picked Seth up from school. He'd been sent home early for fighting. He now had a black eye to match his sister's fading bruises.

"Nothing," Seth mumbled while looking at the floor.

"It's not nothing. You were fighting at school! What happened?" Brooke said sternly.

"Josh was picking on me. He said I didn't have a mom anymore. He said I was going to live in an orphanage because no one would want me," Seth muttered.

"He shouldn't have said that. You're NOT going to live in an orphanage. I want you," Brooke said firmly while looking into Seth's eyes. Seth nodded. "But next time someone's picking on you, you walk away, OK?"

"OK," Seth agreed.

"Now go to your room and work on your homework," Brooke said.

A few hours later Brooke and Seth went to pick Sam up from school. Sam slid into the front seat. It took the teen less than a minute to zero in on her brother's black eye. She stared at him in a mixture of horror and shock and then looked at Brooke warily.

Seth returned to his room to finish his homework. Sam crept into his room while Brooke was cooking dinner. She shut the door quietly and motioned for Seth to join her on the bed.

"Seth, did Brooke hit you?" Sam asked, her voice laced with concern, as she gently traced the bruise.

"No, Josh did," Seth replied.

Sam felt a huge sense of relief. When she'd seen her brother's face, she'd remembered how she'd gotten her own black eyes and jumped to the worst possible conclusion. Brooke seemed nice, but people aren't always what they seem. Sam had heard horror stories from Jack about foster homes that seemed OK at first but got bad fast. Sam wanted to shield Seth from everything bad. She was still a little concerned that Seth had gotten in a fight. It wasn't like him. But five year old bullies were a much easier problem for her to solve than bad foster parents. "That wasn't very nice. What happened?"

"Josh was picking on me so I hit him," Seth explained.

"Who won?" Sam asked.

Seth shrugged. "I hit him first. He hit me and then the teacher broke it up. She sent us to the principal's office and we're not allowed to go back to class until tomorrow."

"Did they call Brooke?" Sam asked warily. Seth nodded.

Fear filled Sam's eyes. She bit her lip. "Was she mad?"

"Not really. She just said to walk away next time," Seth said.

Sam rolled her eyes. She didn't want her brother to be weak like she'd been when Patrick hurt her. Her weakness had cost her dearly. She wanted Seth to be strong enough to fight back. "Don't walk away. You have to stand up for yourself. But, remember what I told you? If Brooke gets mad, she might not want us here anymore so you need to be smart. Don't fight at school because you'll get in trouble. Fight after school when there aren't any grown ups around." Seth looked up at Sam with wide eyes and nodded.

"And don't get hit. Especially not on your face. First of all, you can't hide the evidence from grown ups. Second of all, I kind of like your face." Sam smirked.

Brooke noticed Sam sneaking around and grew suspicious. What was she up to? Brooke went to find out, but stopped outside Seth's door when she heard them talking in hushed voices. She heard the entire exchange.

Brooke could not believe Sam would actually think that she'd hit Seth. She'd had Sam and Seth for over a week. She'd been nothing but nice to them. She would _never _hit a defenseless child and she loved Seth. It hurt her feelings, but it also made her a little angry.

Anger won when Brooke heard Sam's advice to Seth. She threw open the door. She needed to talk to Seth and make sure he knew that Sam had given him bad advice. Then she would have a long talk with Sam. Seth and Sam both looked up with sheepish expressions. "Sam, go to your room."

Sam raised her eyebrows at Brooke ordering her to her room. Brooke wasn't even her mom. She opened her mouth to argue, but the look Brooke shot her was enough to change her mind.

Brooke waited until she heard Sam's door slam to sit down with Seth. "Are you mad at Sam?" Seth asked with fear in his eyes.

"Yes, I am a little mad at Sam," Brooke replied.

"Do you want her to leave?" Seth asked quietly.

"No. I wish you'd believe me when I tell you that I'm _never_ going to ask you guys to leave. This is your home now. I want you here NO MATTER WHAT," Brooke said firmly while looking into Seth's eyes.

Seth nodded, but the fear never left his eyes.

Brooke sighed. She didn't know what it would take to convince him that he wasn't going anywhere. Every time she felt like they were making progress, Sam seemed to mess with his head. "You can't believe everything you hear. Sometimes people give you bad advice. The advice Sam just gave you was bad advice. It is important to stand up for yourself, but there are better ways to do that than by fighting. If you talk to me when someone's picking on you, we can figure out a good way to deal with it, OK?"

"Sam was wrong?" Seth looked confused. He'd grown so dependent on Sam that he couldn't even imagine the teen didn't always have all the answers.

Brooke nodded. "I don't think she meant to give you bad advice, but she's not a grown up, and she doesn't always know the best way to deal with problems."

Seth thought about that for a moment before nodding.

Satisfied that Seth understood, Brooke went to Sam's room. Sam was lying on her bed writing.

"I'm trying to understand. I'm _really_ trying. I know your foster dad hit you, but I'm not him. I would NEVER hit Seth or you," Brooke said angrily.

"I'm sorry," Sam said quietly. She genuinely felt bad for thinking the worst when Brooke had been good to Seth, but it seemed too good to be true. She couldn't let her guard down or Seth could wind up getting hurt.

"I don't think you are. You keep doing these things. You keep telling Seth that I'm going to kick you guys out even though I told you that is NOT going to happen. I'm doing everything I can to give him stability and security, and you're going out of your way to make sure he doesn't feel secure," Brooke accused.

"Jack's in foster care. He's been in a lot of foster homes. People always give up on him. Sure, now you say you're not going to kick Seth out, but what if he does something worse than just get in a fight? I want him to feel secure, too, but I also don't want him to do something that will make you give up on him," Sam explained.

"I'm not going to give up on him, but you have to let me take care of him or this isn't going to work," Brooke said gently. Sam nodded. "You have to stop undermining my authority."

"It's a deal," Sam agreed.


	10. Paint the Silence

Wednesday

"My favorite customer," Brooke said with a smile when Haley walked into Clothes Over Bros.

"I wish I was shopping. I wanted to talk to you about Sam," Haley said. She'd given it a few days. Every time she saw Sam, the teen practically ran in the opposite direction. Haley had given up hope that Sam would come around. She knew what she had to do. She just hoped it ended up helping Sam, not hurting her even more.

"What did she do?" Brooke asked warily.

"She didn't do anything. Why? Has she been acting out?" Haley said.

"You could say that," Brooke said with a hint of sarcasm. She began telling Haley everything that had happened the day before.

Haley bit her lip. "Brooke, there's a reason Sam has such a hard time trusting that you won't hurt Seth."

"I know her foster dad hit her, but I'm not him." Brooke sounded completely exasperated.

"He did a lot more than hit her," Haley replied. "Brooke, he raped her."

"Are you sure?" Brooke stared at Haley slack-jawed. She couldn't believe something so terrible had happened to Sam. The teen was only fourteen years old! Why did bad things happen to kids? As her initial shock faded, Brooke realized that this actually explained a lot of Sam's behavior.

Haley nodded with a grim expression. "I saw her and Jack making out in the hallway. I was going to lecture them, but when I got over there I noticed that Sam looked scared to death and had tears in her eyes. When I asked her about it, she told me what happened."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Brooke asked.

Haley sighed. "I had to drag it out of her. She said she hasn't told anyone because she wants to forget it happened."

"How can you forget something like that?" Brooke asked.

"You can't." Haley shook her head. "I think she needs to talk to a therapist, but she doesn't want to."

"Haley, what should I do?" Brooke asked desperately.

"She needs to talk to a therapist. You need to take her whether she wants to or not," Haley suggested.

"Where's Seth?" Sam asked when Brooke picked her up from school minus the five year old.

"He's at basketball practice. He wanted to play on Jamie's team," Brooke replied. Sam smiled and nodded in approval.

Brooke knew she needed to talk to Sam, but she was dreading the conversation. She had no idea how to bring up the subject. She'd tried to come up with something to say, but nothing felt right. There was no right way to talk to Sam about something that should never have happened in the first place.

Brooke felt terrible about what had happened to Sam. She knew nothing she could say would fix it. She wished she could get her hands on the ass that had hurt Sam.

Brooke waited until they got home. "Sam, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" She said gently.

Sam gave Brooke a weird look. "OK."

"Is there anything you want to talk about?" Brooke really wanted Sam to tell her what had happened. She knew it was stupid, but she felt a little jealous that Sam had gone to Haley instead of her.

"No, I'm good," Sam said with a slight smirk.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "You don't seem good."

"Thanks," Sam said sarcastically.

"You're going through a lot right now. You look like you haven't slept in days. You're distant. You're angry. You even yelled at Seth at your mother's funeral. I'm-"

"I'm sorry if I wasn't a happy camper at my mom's funeral," Sam muttered.

"That's not what I meant. I'm worried about you. I think you should talk to a therapist," Brooke said. She saw a flicker of recognition in Sam's eyes.

"No, you don't. Haley is the one who thinks I should talk to a therapist," Sam said with a hint of anger. She shook her head. "I can't believe she told you."

"She only told me because she cares about you," Brooke said. "So do I. I wish you would have told me, Samantha."

"It's none of your business!" Sam yelled. She stormed out of the house, completely ignoring Brooke calling out to her to come back. She texted Jack to meet her at the river court.

Haley was the first person Sam had trusted, and she'd broken that trust. Now Sam would have to talk about the worst night of her life with Brooke and a therapist. It was bad enough to have to go through it once. Constantly reliving it was torture. Sam knew as soon as she went home, Brooke would be waiting to ask her questions that Sam didn't want to answer.

Jack was the only person Sam could trust. He didn't know what had happened. He thought she was strong because he didn't know the truth. He wanted to be with her no questions asked.

"Hey." Jack grinned when he saw Sam.

"Hey," Sam replied with a smile. Seeing him always made her feel better no matter how bad her day had been. They sat down on the bleachers and listened to Sam's iPod. Sam rested her head against his shoulder.

They sat comfortably for a little while and then Jack kissed Sam. Sam stiffened as the flashbacks started. She knew Jack would get suspicious if she kept acting weird every time they kissed or did anything. She needed to figure out a way to relax. "Jack, were you nervous the other night when we were going to have sex?"

Jack blushed a little but nodded. "Yeah. Were you?"

Sam nodded. "I do want to have sex, though. If we have a few drinks first, maybe it'll help us relax."

"My brother can buy us something. What do you want?" Jack asked.

"Just some beer," Sam replied. She handed Jack a twenty from her purse. "When can you get it?"

"Whenever. Tonight," Jack said.

Brooke didn't know whether she should go after Sam or give the teen a little while to cool off. She hesitated long enough that her decision was made for her. Sam was long gone.

Brooke didn't start getting worried until it got dark outside. Sam wasn't answering her cell phone. The teen had been gone for hours. Brooke should never have let her walk out the door. Sam had been so upset. Who knew what she would do?

Jack and Sam went to Jack's brother's house. It was rundown with the bare minimum for furniture. "Sam, this is my brother, X."

"Hey." X nodded at Sam. He had always been nice to Sam, but she didn't like him. He beat on Jack sometimes. Even if she hadn't known that, he gave her the creeps. There was just something about him.

"Hey."

Jack gave X the money, and X went on a beer run. He returned with a twelve pack of cheap beer.

Jack and Sam each grabbed a beer. They played games while they drank. They put Sam's iPod on shuffle. The last one to guess the name of the song and artist of the song playing had to drink. They were both laughing and having fun.

After four beers, Sam was buzzed. She'd become noticeably more comfortable with physical contact. She didn't care about Patrick. She didn't care about anything. She just wanted to forget everything and have fun.

"Where's X?" Sam asked.

"You don't remember?" Jack smirked. "He went out a little while ago."

"So we're alone?" Sam raised her eyebrows.

Jack grinned and moved closer to Sam. They started kissing and taking their clothes off. They were both clumsy as a result of drinking. Jack struggled to take Sam's bra off, which made Sam laugh hysterically. "Do you have a condom?" Sam asked. Jack fumbled to put a condom on.

"That was sex," Jack said. He looked at Sam nervously to gauge her reaction "It was…nice."

The beer had the desired effect. Sam had been relaxed. She hadn't been scared or upset.

"It was nice," Sam agreed with a smile. When Patrick raped her, it had hurt a lot. Jack was gentle. It was nothing like the violent attack she'd experienced before.

Jack grinned. "Do you want to stay here?"

"Yeah, but I can't," Sam replied. She really didn't want to go back to Brooke's, but Seth was there. She couldn't leave him.

Brooke's worry had turned into full-blown panic when Sam was still missing at eleven pm. She was wearing a hole in the floor with her pacing when the teen finally walked through the door. Brooke felt a huge sense of relief, but it didn't last long. Anger consumed Brooke as she rounded on Sam. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I'm tired so can you yell at me tomorrow?" Sam didn't wait for a response. She started for her room, but Brooke grabbed her arm before she got very far.

"Oh, I'm tired, too!" Anger was practically radiating off of Brooke. She pointed at a barstool. "Sit down." Sam stood defiantly glaring at Brooke. "SIT DOWN!"

Sam begrudgingly sat down.

"I think it's time we go over the house rules. Curfew is-"

"I've never had a curfew. My mom actually trusted me," Sam interrupted with a hint of anger.

"Well, you do now," Brooke said in a firm tone that left no room for argument. "These rules aren't because I don't trust you. They're because I worry about you, Sam. And for the record, I don't trust you. I wish I could, but you have done nothing but lie and sneak around since you got here."

"Don't hold back. Tell me what you really think," Sam said sarcastically.

"I'm trying here, but I need you to try, too," Brooke said. The anger was gone from her voice now. She almost sounded desperate.

"Stop trying to be my mom! My mom's dead, but she raised me, OK? I'm done!" Sam cried out. She saw a flicker of pain in Brooke's eyes, but she was too angry to care.

"I know I'm not your mom, but you _are_ my foster daughter, and I have to do what is best for you. It is NOT in your best interest for you to have no supervision," Brooke said through gritted teeth.

"You said you had an extra room and it was mine if I wanted it. You said there was no catch. Now you're making rules, and what? I just have to follow them or leave?" Sam said.

"Sam, we're both tired and pissed off. Go to bed. We'll finish this conversation in the morning," Brooke muttered. She knew if they kept talking, they would say things they didn't mean. They were already treading dangerously close to Sam leaving because she didn't like Brooke's rules.

Brooke wanted Sam there. Sure, she'd originally wanted a younger kid and she loved Seth, but she cared about Sam, too. Sam kind of reminded her or herself at that age. The teen was fiercely independent, a total smartass, and rebellious, but she would also go to great lengths to protect the people she cared about. Sam had been incredibly selfless as long as Seth was taken care of. Brooke genuinely liked Sam.

"Can't wait," Sam said sarcastically. Her bedroom door slammed behind her.


	11. I'm Not Over

**Thanks for the reviews! I was originally going to introduce Julian in this chapter. Sam was going to talk to Peyton instead of Brooke and meet Julian. I decided to change it because people wanted Sam and Brooke to bond a little more, so Julian will probably be in the next chapter instead. Brooke and Sam aren't as close yet for a few reasons. First of all, it took a little while for Sam to warm up to Brooke in the show. At first, she left a lot, and Brooke even told Sam it wasn't going to work at one point (but she changed her mind and was waiting for Sam in the car). I don't think Sam would leave because Seth is at Brooke's, but I don't think it would be a smooth transition either. Second of all, because Sam actually had a mom in this story, she's having a harder time accepting Brooke. In the show, she had no one and was happy to finally have someone, although she chose her "real" mom at the end of season six. My plan is for things to get worse before they get better, but then they'll get close. **

* * *

Thursday

For the first time since Sam had been at Brooke's, she was still in bed at seven am. Brooke would have let her sleep in, but she'd already scheduled an appointment with the therapist her doctor had recommended for Sam. "Sam, breakfast!" Brooke called.

"I'll wake her up," Seth offered. He jumped down from the barstool.

Sam wasn't actually sleeping. She'd woken up from a nightmare in the middle of the night and never gone back to sleep. She was just delaying the inevitable conversation she'd have to have with Brooke.

She had a feeling Brooke was going to kick her out. She didn't want to follow Brooke's rules, but she also didn't want to leave. She didn't want to go to another foster home. She would run away again before she'd let that happen. She knew she couldn't take Seth with her, though.

If she took Seth, she'd be single-handedly ruining his life. He wouldn't be able to go to school because Social Services would be waiting to put him back in foster care the first time he did. He'd spend his childhood sleeping on benches and in cars instead of in a bed. As much as Sam hated to admit it, Brooke could take better care of Seth than she could. Leaving Brooke's would also mean leaving Seth. Sam didn't know if she'd have a choice in the matter after their fight the night before.

Seth bounded into Sam's room and tackled her. Sam picked him up and hung him upside down. Seth giggled. "Do it again," he said when she dropped him gently on the bed.

"If I do it again, you'll lose your breakfast," Sam said with a laugh.

"Uh-uh," Seth argued as only a five year old could.

"Uh-huh," Sam shot back.

Brooke appeared in the doorway. She smiled a little as she watched Sam and Seth bicker playfully. Sam looked genuinely happy, however, her expression changed the second she saw Brooke. "Breakfast is getting cold," Brooke said.

Seth raced back to the kitchen, nearly knocking Brooke over. Sam trudged out. The teen picked at her breakfast, but barely ate anything.

After Brooke dropped Seth off at school, Brooke and Sam drove in uncomfortable silence until Sam realized they were going the opposite direction of Tree Hill High School. "Where are we going?" She asked suspiciously.

"We're going to an appointment," Brooke said vaguely. She knew Sam wouldn't be happy about the appointment.

"With Social Services?" Sam stared out the window, looking anywhere but at Brooke.

Brooke wasn't surprised by the question. Sam didn't trust that Brooke wouldn't ask her to leave. "I wish you would believe that I'm not going to ask you to leave. No, the appointment is not with Social Services. It's with a therapist."

Sam looked up in surprise. "I can't believe you made an appointment without even telling me!"

"I told you I thought you should talk to a therapist and you left," Brooke reminded the teen. "Would you have come if you'd known?" She smirked because she already knew the answer.

"Hell no," Sam replied. She tried not to smile. She would never admit it to Brooke, but she was a little impressed that Brooke had known not to tell her. There is no way Sam would have gone willingly.

Brooke pulled into a parking space in front of the therapist's office. Sam didn't move. Brooke looked at the teen with raised eyebrows.

"I'm NOT going," Sam said firmly.

"Oh, you're going," Brooke said sternly. Sam refused to budge. Brooke decided to try another tactic. "If you won't come into the office, I can always send the therapist out to the car." She smirked. Sam looked exasperated, but she finally got out of the car.

"How'd it go?" Brooke asked when Sam emerged from the office an hour later.

"Fine," Sam replied shortly. She stared out the window to avoid eye contact with Brooke.

Truthfully it had been the longest hour of Sam's life. Sam had gone in determined not to talk. Brooke could make her attend the appointment, but Brooke couldn't make her talk. The therapist had quickly given up on trying to get Sam to open up.

After sitting there in awkward silence for nearly fifteen minutes, the tension was palpable. The office was eerily quiet and the therapist was just sitting there staring at Sam. It was creepy. When Sam couldn't take it anymore, she started talking. She was surprised that it actually felt good to talk. Sam had been keeping so much bottled up inside.

Brooke drove to a coffee shop. They went in and ordered drinks. Sam dumped way too much sugar in her cup.

"We need to talk," Brooke said. Sam nodded but continued to avoid eye contact. "I know you're having a hard time right now. I meant it when I told you that you can talk to me about anything." Sam didn't say anything so Brooke continued, "You just lost your mom, and I am _not_ trying to replace her, but there are rules if you're going to live in my house."

Brooke never realized Sam could interpret her words as an ultimatum. Brooke knew Sam had nowhere else to go so she looked at what she said as a simple statement of fact. She didn't actually want Sam to leave. Her words, however, filled Sam with anger and fear because Sam took it as a threat. She either had to do whatever Brooke said or she was gone.

Sam's mom had never been very strict. Sam had always been a good kid. She'd done well in school and helped out around the house and with Seth. Rebecca was pretty cool about letting Sam date and go out with friends because she trusted Sam. Sam hated it when Brooke told her what to do. She wasn't used to it. She knew Brooke didn't trust her.

Even though Sam didn't like it, she didn't argue, mainly because of Seth. She nodded. "OK."

"I know you don't want to talk about what happened. I do need you to answer one question, though. Did he use a condom?" Brooke said. She hadn't really known what to do when Haley told her what had happened. She'd been more worried about Sam psychologically than physically because of Sam's behavior, but now that she'd taken Sam to the therapist, she was wondering if she should schedule a doctor appointment as well.

Sam stared at the floor and shook her head.

Brooke made a doctor appointment for Sam for that afternoon. Sam wasn't looking forward to this appointment either. She knew it would be invasive.

"Do you want me to stay with you or wait outside?" Brooke asked.

"Stay," Sam said quietly.

Brooke was surprised by Sam's answer but hoped it meant they were making progress. She wanted Sam to trust her. She'd accepted that it would take a little while to earn Sam's trust after what had happened. Maybe it wouldn't take as long as she thought.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could have gotten to you before anything happened," Brooke said gently.

"It's not your fault," Sam replied.

"It's not yours either," Brooke said firmly. Sam looked away. "Sam?"

"I'm weak. I should have fought harder. I should have-"

"You are NOT weak. You should NEVER have been placed with that ass. He shouldn't have hurt you. You DIDN'T do anything wrong. You're one of the strongest people I know, Samantha," Brooke said.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I don't want to talk about with anyone. Every time I do, I relive it. And I'm a little embarrassed, too," Sam admitted.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I'm here if you do," Brooke said.

The doctor opened the door and came in. "Hi Samantha. I'm Dr. Stephens."

"Hi," Sam said quietly.

"When was your last menstruation cycle?" Dr. Stephens asked.

Sam thought for a moment. "Um, like two weeks ago."

"Are you sexually active?" Dr. Stephens asked. To Brooke's surprise, Sam nodded. Brooke stared at the teen, but Sam avoided eye contact.

"Are you taking oral contraceptives?" Dr. Stephens asked. Sam shook her head. "OK, I'm going to begin the exam now. It might feel a little uncomfortable."

Sam knew it would be more than a little uncomfortable. She closed her eyes. She flinched when Dr. Stephens started the exam. Brooke noticed and reached for Sam's hand.

"No. No! Please," Sam cried out.

Dr. Stephens stopped immediately. Sam's eyes fluttered open. Brooke saw fear in her eyes. She moved closed to Sam and put her arm around Sam's shoulders comfortingly. Sam looked disoriented at first. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"That's OK. Do you need a minute before I continue?" Dr. Stephens said gently. Sam shook her head.

After the exam, a nurse came in to draw blood. Dr. Stephens returned to pronounce Sam healthy. She was STD-free and baby-free.

The car ride home was filled with silence. Sam was exhausted emotionally and physically. Brooke was lost in her own thoughts. She wondered if Sam and Jack were having sex in her house the night she walked in on them. She shouldn't have left Sam alone. She should have known better. She would have done the same thing when she was Sam's age. She didn't know what to say. She didn't want Sam having sex, but she knew she was being hypocritical.

"I was having sex when I was your age," Brooke admitted.

Sam looked up in surprise. "Is this a sex talk?" Sam asked warily. "Because it's a little too late."

"I was having _a lot_ of sex, and I wish I wouldn't have because you can't take it back," Brooke continued. "I had a pregnancy scare when I was in high school."

"I'm not stupid. I'm not going to get pregnant," Sam said quickly.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "Do you think Haley's stupid?"

"No," Sam replied.

"She got pregnant with Jamie when we were in high school. She actually went into labor while she was giving her valedictorian speech at graduation," Brooke said.

"My mom was in high school when she had me," Sam said quietly.

"You're fourteen years old. You shouldn't have to worry about getting pregnant," Brooke said.

"I know. I wanted to wait. I didn't want to get pregnant like my mom. I just wanted to get all the bad memories out of my head. I thought if I had sex with Jack, it would help," Sam admitted.

"Did it?" Brooke asked. Sam shook her head. "Was your first time the night I found you and Jack in your room?"

"No. I wanted to, but I flashed back to that night and I couldn't do it," Sam replied.

Brooke looked confused. "When did you have sex?"

"Yesterday," Sam said sheepishly.

Brooke sighed. She should never have let Sam leave. "Where were you?"

"At Jack's," Sam replied.

"Where were his parents?" Brooke asked in a disapproving tone.

"He's in foster care," Sam reminded Brooke. "He's staying with his brother." Sam shrugged. "His brother doesn't care what he does."

"From now on, if you want to hang out with Jack, you guys can hang out at our house," Brooke muttered.


	12. Not Alone

**Thanks for the reviews! :) I'm breaking Friday up into two parts. I didn't have time to finish it, but I wanted to post something since it's been a little while. School is getting busier. Julian makes his first appearance. He's in town to produce Ravens. Brooke has met him, but doesn't know him well. He asked her to design the wardrobe for the movie and she said no. I have a few ideas for future chapters, but I'm running low on ideas for this story so feel free to give me suggestions.**

Friday

Sam was standing in the grocery store in the magazine aisle flipping through B. Davis Magazine. Julian grabbed a copy and started doing the same thing. Sam smirked. "I didn't have you pegged for a fashionista."

"I'm not. I know Brooke Davis," Julian said.

Sam laughed. She'd never met Julian and Brooke had never mentioned him so she assumed he was lying.

"What's so funny?" Julian asked.

"I live with Brooke Davis. You don't know her, but nice try," Sam replied.

"Wait a minute, you live with her?" Julian asked.

"Yeah. Why? Do you want her autograph or something?" Sam said with a hint of sarcasm.

"No, I don't want her autograph. And I really do know her," Julian retorted. "Peyton and I go way back. I'm producing a movie based on Lucas' book."

"I like Peyton," Sam said.

"I used to be in love with Peyton," Julian replied.

"Sorry, Dude. She's engaged," Sam said.

"Yeah, I know. Is Brooke single?" Julian asked.

Sam rolled her eyes. "I don't think Brooke is going to take her best friend's leftovers."

"There's enough of me to go around." Julian smirked.

"I'm not hooking you guys up," Sam said. She was distracted from their conversation when she saw Jack walking by. "Jack!" She called out. She turned to Julian. "Well, gotta bounce."

"Hey, Jack!" Sam called again as she went after him.

This time Jack heard her and stopped. When he turned to face Sam, she noticed a bruise along his jaw and winced sympathetically. "X's handiwork?" She asked as she gently traced the bruise. Jack nodded. "Do you need someplace to crash until he cools off?"

"Brooke would love that," Jack said sarcastically.

"She's actually been pretty good to me lately. I like talking to her. If I ask her, she might let you stay," Sam said.

"Or she might call Social Services and report it," Jack retorted. "X is better than a foster home. He's my brother."

"I don't understand how he can be such an ass to you. I would never do that to Seth," Sam muttered.

"Seth's lucky," Jack said. He paused as they approached the exit to the store. Sam noticed that he looked a little nervous. "Go ahead."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Just go," Jack said.

Sam shrugged and walked out ahead of Jack. She stopped just to the side of the store to wait for him. He came out and the security alarm went off. Now she knew why he wanted her to go ahead. She hurried over to him.

Julian was walking out of the store when the security alarm started going off. He stopped and looked around. He noticed Sam.

Jack looked panic-stricken when Sam reached him. She knew store security would call the police, and Jack would end up in a foster home. "Give it to me."

Jack stared at Sam, but didn't hand the package of hot dogs he'd stolen over.

"Just give it to me and go! I won't tell. I promise," Sam said. Jack passed the hot dogs to her and took off just before a security guard came out.

The security guard grabbed Sam's wrist. "You're going to need to come with me." He took Sam to the back of the store. "Call your parents to come pick you up."

"Look, I didn't mean to. I have money. I can pay for the hot dogs," Sam said desperately.

"You should have paid for them in the first place," the security guard replied unsympathetically.

"My mom just died," Sam said. She really didn't want to call Brooke. She wondered if playing the sympathy card would help her at all.

"If a parent or guardian can't come pick you up, I'm going to have to call the police. We take shoplifting very seriously," the security guard said.

Sam called Brooke to come pick her up. Brooke looked completely and totally pissed off. She didn't say one word to Sam on the ride home.

"SHOPLIFTING, SAM!" Brooke screamed as they walked through the door. "What the HELL were you thinking?"

Sam looked at Brooke with fear in her eyes. She'd never seen Brooke anywhere near this pissed off before. She knew she'd crossed a line, and she couldn't take it back. She swallowed a lump in the back of her throat. "I'm sorry."

"I'm so pissed off at you right now. Go to your room," Brooke said angrily through gritted teeth.

"Brooke, I-"

"GO!" Brooke screamed. Her expression was dangerous.

Sam went to her room with tears in her eyes. She'd just been trying to help Jack. Now that she knew what foster care was like, she would do anything to save Jack from having to go back. She wouldn't wish what had happened to her at the Bryants' house on anyone. She knew Jack had been going through abuse in the foster care system for his whole life.

Brooke kept saying she would never kick Seth and Sam out, but Sam knew she'd gone too far this time. Brooke didn't even want to talk to her. That had never happened before. Brooke had been angry with her in the past, but never like this. Sam knew she had pushed Brooke to her limit.

Brooke didn't want to talk to Sam until she calmed down. She knew she couldn't lose her temper with the teen. She didn't want to do or say anything that would make Sam even less trusting of adults.

Brooke couldn't understand why Sam would steal. The teen had everything she wanted. And hot dogs? There was plenty of food in the house.

The doorbell rang and Brooke answered the door. She was surprised Julian was standing there. She'd already told him she couldn't design the wardrobe for Ravens. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with Peyton's ex right now. She sighed. "Julian, I told you I'm not designing the wardrobe for Ravens."

"And I told you to think about it, but that's not why I'm here," Julian said.

"What do you want?" Brooke asked.

"I need to talk to you about a teenager that lives with you. Brown hair. Sarcastic," Julian said.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "How many teenagers do you think I have?"

Julian shrugged. "I have read Ravens. I know what you were like in high school."

"She's my foster daughter!" Brooke said with a glare.

"OK, well, your foster daughter wasn't stealing. She took the hot dogs from her friend so he wouldn't get in trouble and she promised not to tell," Julian said.

"How do you know?" Brooke asked.

"I was coming out of the store. I saw the whole thing," Julian replied. "She was just being a good friend."

"What did her friend look like?" Brooke demanded.

"Kind of scraggly hair," Julian said.

Brooke nodded. "That's her boyfriend."

"He's out of her league," Julian said with a smirk.

Brooke nodded. "Thanks for telling me. I need to go talk to her. I owe her an apology."

Brooke knocked on Sam's door. "Sam? Can I come in?" She wasn't surprised when the teen didn't answer. She couldn't blame Sam for being mad. She hadn't even given Sam a chance to explain. She'd just yelled at her. Brooke felt terrible.

Brooke sighed and opened the door. Sam's room was empty and the window was open. There was a note on the bed. Brooke picked it up.

_Brooke-_

_I'm really sorry. Don't worry. I won't be back and I won't try to take Seth. Take care of him for me._

_Sam_

Brooke called Sam's cell phone. She heard it ringing and noticed that Sam had left it on the dresser. She had no idea where Sam would go and no way to get a hold of her.

This was different than the last time Sam took off. That time Brooke knew Sam would come home. This time she knew Sam was gone for good and it was all Brooke's fault.

Brooke imagined the fourteen year old alone on the streets. Sam had already been through so much. Brooke wouldn't be able to live with herself if anything else bad happened to Sam because of Brooke. How much more could one kid take?


	13. Angel

**Thanks for the reviews! I'm going out of town for a week, so I probably won't update much.**

Friday:

Brooke looked everywhere she could think of for Sam. She looked at Tree Hill High School, the river court and the park. She ran into Julian when she went into the café.

"Julian, have you seen Sam?" Brooke asked desperately.

"No. Why? Did she run away?" Julian asked. His forehead wrinkled in concern. Brooke thought it was unusually sweet of him to care so much about Sam, especially considering what she'd heard about him from Peyton and Lucas.

Brooke nodded. "I was so hard on her for stealing. I went to apologize, and she was gone. I've been looking all over for her. I don't know where else to look. I'm such a bad mom."

Julian noticed the tears forming in Brooke's eyes. "Hey, you're a good mom. You took in a foster kid who had no one. She'll come back," he said gently.

Brooke shook her head. "I don't think she will. She left me a note and asked me to take care of her brother for her. She's gone."

Julian pulled money out of his wallet and put it on the table before he stood up. "I'll help you look for her."

Brooke looked surprised. "You're helping me?" Where was the ass Peyton had described? Julian was being so nice.

Julian smirked. "Shocking I know."

Brooke shrugged. "Every dog has its day."

Julian laughed. "Let's see if this is mine. Have you checked her boyfriend's house?"

Brooke called Haley to get Jack's address.

"Let's go. I'll drive," Julian offered. He knew Brooke was upset and didn't want her driving.

When they got to Jack's address, there was loud music blaring. Brooke knocked and X opened the door slightly.

"Hi. I'm looking for my foster daughter. She's your brother's girlfriend," Brooke said. She strained to see past X and into the house. She saw about twenty people, but she didn't see Sam.

"I haven't seen her," X said shortly. He started to shut the door in their faces, but Julian stopped him in one swift movement.

"Well, is Jack here? Maybe I can talk to him," Brooke said desperately. She really didn't know where else to look for Sam.

X shrugged. "The kid comes and goes."

One of X's friends appeared behind X. "Dude, your brother is such a lightweight! He's already gone."

Brooke raised her eyebrows. She had a really bad feeling about X. She needed to get into that house to make sure Sam wasn't there.

"We need to talk to your brother," Julian said firmly.

"He's indisposed," X retorted.

"You do know it's illegal to provide alcohol to a minor? You're going to let us in to talk to your brother or we're going to call the police," Julian said.

X stepped back. Julian put a protective hand on Brooke's lower back to guide her. Brooke was glad she didn't have to do this alone. She was used to doing things alone, but X gave her the creeps. It felt good to have Julian there with her.

The house reeked of pot and cigarette smoke. X's friends were drinking. Brooke and Julian weaved through them looking for Jack or Sam. "Brooke." Julian nodded toward the couch.

Jack was passed out on the couch. They hurried in that direction. As they got closer, they saw Sam sitting on the other end of the couch. One of X's friends was hitting on her. The teen looked very uncomfortable.

"Can I get you a drink?" X's friend slurred drunkenly. He'd been leering at her all night.

"No," Sam replied. She edged closer to Jack's passed out form. She wished he hadn't blacked out. She didn't like X, and his friends were just as bad. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't felt this off since that night at the Bryants' house. Could X's friends be as bad as Ryan? Could anyone? The thought sent shivers down her spine.

"You don't drink?" X's friend asked.

"I just don't feel like drinking tonight," Sam said quietly. She'd already had a few drinks with Jack. She really wished Jack hadn't had this many. She needed him.

It wasn't the drinking Sam had a problem with. It was X's friend. She didn't trust him at all. She wasn't going to accept a drink from him. She wouldn't put it past him to roofie her or something.

X's friend moved close enough to Sam that their thighs were touching. Sam flinched. She could smell the alcohol on his breath. "You'll feel better if you have a drink," he coaxed. He handed her a cup. She pretended to sip it to get him off her back.

X's friend draped an arm around Sam's shoulders, spilling his own drink on her in the process. "Sorry. Let me help you with that," he said. He rubbed her inner thigh where he'd spilled on her. Once again Sam flinched.

Sam was preparing herself for the worst. She knew X's friend could force himself on her, and no one would stop him. No one would care.

Sam looked up in surprise when X's friend was lifted to his feet. She saw Julian and Brooke and breathed a sigh of relief. She knew the worst was over.

Julian lifted X's friend to his feet. "I don't think she's eighteen," he said with a glare.

Brooke sat down beside Sam. "What are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Partying," Brooke said sarcastically. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Why?" Sam asked.

Brooke looked into Sam's eyes. "Because you're my foster daughter, Samantha. I hope someday you'll believe me when I tell you I'm not going to ask you to leave. My home is your home now, and it's going to be that way for as long as you want it to be."

"I'm sorry," Sam said softly.

Brooke shook her head. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. I'm the one that owes you an apology." Sam looked up in surprise. "Julian saw you outside the store. I know you weren't shoplifting."

"It's OK," Sam mumbled.

"I don't think it is. I shouldn't have assumed the worst," Brooke said.

"Kind of how I shouldn't have assumed you hit Seth when I saw his black eye," Sam said with a hint of sarcasm. She smiled a little. "You're a good mom."

Brooke smiled. "What do you say we go home?" Sam nodded.

"We can talk about the drinking tomorrow," Brooke said with a smirk as they walked to the door. Sam rolled her eyes.


	14. Who Says You Can't Go Home?

Saturday

"Sam, do you have any idea how worried I was last night?" Brooke asked. She sat across the kitchen table from Sam. She wasn't mad at the teen. She knew she was at least partially to blame for not giving Sam a chance to explain the shoplifting incident. Brooke had been worried more than anything else.

"Why?" Sam asked. She'd left a note saying she wasn't coming back. She didn't understand why Brooke would be worried. Brooke stared at her with raised eyebrows. "I left a note."

"Sam, you can't just leave a note telling me you're leaving. This is your home now. You can't just leave," Brooke said in an exasperate tone.

"I thought you were going to kick me out. You were so pissed," Sam said defensively.

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm not going to ask you to leave, you knucklehead?" Brooke asked. Her tone was light and teasing, but she really wanted to know the answer. She didn't know how many more ways she could tell Sam that this was their home now. She needed Sam to understand that.

"You say that, but actions speak louder than words. You wouldn't even talk to me," Sam said quietly.

Brooke sighed. She wished she could take it back and handle the shoplifting incident differently, but she knew she couldn't. "I'm sorry. I can't promise I won't get mad, but I can promise you that no matter how mad I get, I will never ask you to leave. OK?" Sam nodded, but didn't say anything. "OK, Sam?"

Sam looked up and made eye contact. "OK," she said quietly.

"No more running off," Brooke said sternly.

Sam nodded. "OK."

"Do you know what could have happened if I hadn't gotten there when I did?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah," Sam said sheepishly. She'd had a really bad feeling about X's friend, and X had been passed out. She knew things could have been much worse.

"You're fourteen years old! You were drinking. Your boyfriend was passed out drunk," Brooke scolded.

"I'm sorry," Sam mumbled.

"No more hanging out at Jack's house. His brother is not a good role model," Brooke said in a disapproving tone.

Sam smirked a little. She knew Brooke was putting it mildly. X was a creep. "OK." She waited until she was sure their talk was over to bring up Julian. "So, you and Julian?"

"Julian and I, what?" Brooke asked with raised eyebrows. "Julian and I spent the whole night looking for you, Young Lady."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Do you like him?"

Brooke didn't know the answer to that herself, and she sure as hell wasn't going to tell Sam. "He's Peyton's ex, Sam."

"Isn't Peyton marrying your ex?" Sam retorted.

"That's not the point," Brooke said quickly, though Sam had a point. If Brooke did like Julian, Peyton couldn't possibly have a problem with them dating when she was marrying Luke.

"I think you should design the wardrobe for Ravens," Sam said.

"Who asked you?" Brooke retorted.

Sam ignored her and continued, "If you work with him, you can get to know him better."

Again, Sam had a point. Brooke could work with him and decide if she wanted to give him a chance or not. "When did you get so smart?" She asked with a smile.

Brooke called Julian and told him she would design the wardrobe for Ravens. They agreed to meet for dinner and discuss details that night. Sam offered to babysit.

"How's Sam doing?" Julian asked.

Brooke was surprised and touched that the first thing out of his mouth showed his concern for Sam. He genuinely seemed to care about her. "OK. She's going through a really hard time. Her mom died. She was placed in a really bad foster home. She doesn't believe that I won't ask her to leave."

"Did you see the way she looked at you when we found her last night?" Julian asked.

"No," Brooke replied. Her expression was curious. She'd been so relieved to find Sam in one piece that she hadn't really paid attention to Sam's expression.

Julian smiled slightly. "She looked at you like she knew everything was going to be OK now that you were there. She trusts you."

Brooke smiled. She hoped Julian was right. "I just don't know how to make her believe I won't kick her out. I've told her over and over again, and she just can't get it through her thick head."

"Are you going to adopt her?" Julian asked curiously.

"I've thought about it. I want to make it official with her and her brother, but I think it's too soon. I don't want them to feel like I'm trying to replace their mom," Brooke explained.

"No one can replace their mom, but no one can bring her back either. Having someone is better than having no one. Maybe if you make it official, Sam will believe you're not going to give up on her," Julian said.

"You like kids a lot," Brooke observed with a smile.

"Depends on the kid," Julian said with a smirk. "I was an only child. I always wanted brothers and sisters. I want a big family."

"I was an only child, too. My parents ignored me. I hate being alone. I think I've always just wanted a family. That's why I decided to foster a child," Brooke said.

"I wish my dad would ignore me," Julian commented. "I work for him, which wouldn't be nearly as bad if he believed in me."

Brooke laughed. "I work with my mother. I think she's called me stupid more times than she's told me she loves me."

Brooke and Julian continued comparing horror stories about their parents all night. They realized they had a lot in common. Flirting throughout dinner led to a goodnight kiss that left both of them wanting more.

Sam ended up watching Seth and Jamie. Haley and Nathan were going out to dinner. She took the boys to the river court. She watched as they played Horse.

"Hey." Sam looked up in surprise when she heard Jack's voice. "What happened last night?"

"I had a very eventful night after you passed out," Sam said with a smirk. "X's creepy friend was all over me." Jack's eyes clouded with concern. "Brooke got there before anything bad happened."

"I thought she was pissed at you?" Jack asked.

"Julian was at the grocery store. He saw everything. He told her I'm not a klepto. She apologized," Sam explained.

"That's good," Jack said.

Sam nodded. "Are you OK? You shouldn't have to live like that. X is a creep!"

"He's my brother. It's better than a foster home," Jack said quickly.

"Not all foster parents are these horrible people. Brooke's been really good to me," Sam argued.

"You've been in two foster homes. I've been in nine. You don't know what you're talking about," Jack said a little more harshly than he intended.

"Do you guys want to play?" Seth interrupted. He and Jamie looked up eagerly.

"Sure. Jack and you against Jamie and me?" Sam suggested.

Jamie and Seth were both really good. Sam was surprised at how much her brother had improved. Jack was OK. Sam was really bad. Jamie threw her the ball and she tried to make a basket, but missed the basket by a good ten feet. Jamie and Seth thought this was hilarious.

"You think that's funny?" Sam asked with her hands on her hips. Both boys nodded and continued cracking up. Sam started tickling Seth mercilessly, which only made him laugh harder.

"Fighting foul," Jamie said as he watched.

"We're on the same team," Sam reminded him.

They finished playing. Jamie and Sam won even though Sam was completely worthless.

"Sam, you're really bad," Seth said as they walked to the café to get dinner.

"Thanks a lot," Sam said, feigning hurt.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" Seth asked with a smirk.

"I thought you two disappeared off the face of the planet," Diana said with a smile when she saw Sam and Seth enter the café. They both hugged her. "How are you doing?"

"A little better," Sam replied.

Diana took their order. Sam paid for everyone's dinner, including Jack's. She knew he wouldn't be eating if she didn't feed him. They stopped to get ice cream cones on the way home.

"Hey, where's my kid?" Haley asked with a smile.

"I just got home. I haven't seen them. Come in," Brooke replied. She looked in Sam's room and Seth's room. She was about to call Sam's cell when the teen walked through the door with Seth and Jamie in tow.

Haley laughed. "Hey Buddy, you have ice cream all over your face. Come here." She picked Jamie up and washed his face off in the kitchen.

"You are a mess," Sam agreed in a teasing tone.

"At least I can make a basket," Jamie retorted.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't hurt to have a coach for a dad," Sam said.

"Where's your dad?" Jamie asked curiously.

Haley and Brooke froze and exchanged a glance. They'd wondered the same thing, but knew better than to ask. Sam had never once mentioned their dad.

"I don't know," Sam replied. She honestly didn't know. Her dad left her and Rebecca when Rebecca was pregnant with Seth. He hadn't contacted Sam in over five years, and he'd never even met Seth.

"Is he lost?" Jamie asked.

"Sometimes people don't want to be found," Sam muttered.

"Thanks for watching him," Haley said. She ushered Jamie out before he could ask any more questions.

Brooke put Seth to bed and then went into Sam's room. "Sam, I want to talk to you." Sam nodded and sat up. Brooke sat down beside her. "Do you want to talk about your dad?"

"You're the one that wanted to talk," Sam pointed out with a hint of sarcasm.

Brooke sighed. She wanted Sam to open up, but she knew she couldn't force the teen to talk. "Yeah, I do. I've been giving this a lot of thought. I know you don't believe that this is your home now. I want to prove to you that I'm never going to ask you to leave. I want to make it official. I want to adopt you and Seth. What do you say?"

"Yeah," Sam said. She smiled, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

Brooke looked into her eyes. "Sam?" She questioned.

"I want us to be a family. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I also don't want to betray my mom. I don't know what to do," Sam admitted.

"Don't you think your mom would want you to have a family? Don't you think she would want you to be happy?" Brooke asked.

"I never thought about it like that. Yeah, I guess," Sam said. "Thanks, Brooke."

Brooke looked surprised. "You don't have to thank me. I want this. You and Seth mean so much to me. I love you, Samantha."

Sam surprised Brooke by hugging her. "I love you, too," she said quietly.


	15. Leave Out All The Rest

Sunday

Brooke, Sam and Seth sat in the living room. Brooke wanted to see how Seth felt about adoption, but she didn't know how to explain it to a five year old. "Seth, you know how much I love you and Sam, right?"

"I love you, too," Seth said.

Brooke smiled. "I want us to be a family officially."

"I want us to be a family, too," Seth echoed.

Brooke looked at Seth uncertainly. She didn't know if he understood. She looked at Sam for help.

"Brooke won't be our foster mom anymore. She'll be-"

"But I want her to be our foster mom! I don't want to go to the orphanage!" Seth cried out before Sam could finish her sentence.

Sam looked surprised at Seth's outburst. She realized for the first time that Brooke was right. Sam had convinced Seth that this wasn't permanent. She'd never meant to scare him. She just didn't want him to do anything that would get them kicked out. She knew now that Brooke would not ask them to leave. She would do whatever she could to make sure Seth knew that, too.

"We're not going anywhere. Brooke won't be our foster mom. She'll be our mom officially and this will be our home until we turn eighteen," Sam said quickly.

"What about Mom?" Seth asked.

"I think Mom would want us to have a family," Sam said. It was the conclusion she'd reached only after talking to Brooke. She wondered if Seth would be able to understand.

Seth's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "You can't have two moms."

"Mom will always be our first mom, but she's in Heaven now so she can't take care of us anymore," Sam tried to explain.

Seth still looked a little confused. He turned his attention to Brooke. "Do I call you Mom now?"

Brooke looked up in surprise. She hadn't expected Seth and Sam to start calling her Mom just because of the adoption, but she had to admit she liked hearing it. "Only if you want to."

Seth thought for a moment. "I want to because you do everything a mom's supposed to. You cook and tuck me in and go to my basketball games and-"

"We get the picture," Sam cut him off. She knew he would ramble on for hours if they let him.

Sam excused herself and went to her room. Brooke followed her. Sam didn't see Brooke standing in the doorway. If she had seen Brooke, she would have put on a happy face. Instead she looked sad.

"Hey, are you OK?" Brooke asked, her voice laced with concern.

Sam forced a smile. "Yeah."

"If you're not sure about the adoption, we can wait until you're ready," Brooke offered. Her tone held disappointment.

"No, it's not that. I want us to be a family," Sam said quickly.

Brooke breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want to wait any longer. She wanted Sam and Seth to be her kids officially. She'd felt like they were her kids for a little while now. "OK, what's wrong?"

"You were right. Everything I told Seth about being good so you wouldn't get mad and change your mind about us living here made him scared. It was stupid. I never wanted to scare him," Sam said, her voice thick with tears.

"I know. You love him very much. You didn't mean to hurt him," Brooke said gently.

"You're pretty good at this mom thing," Sam said with a smile.

Brooke went to the grocery store. She wanted to celebrate by cooking dinner for her kids. She even bought an ice cream cake for dessert.

Everyone was in a good mood. Brooke was so happy she was getting the family she'd always wanted. Sam felt a huge sense of relief that Brooke wanted to adopt them. She could finally stop worrying that they'd end up in bad foster homes somewhere down the line. They talked about lighthearted subjects as they ate dinner. They felt like a family.

After dinner Brooke served the ice cream cake. Sam took a bite. She'd barely swallowed it when she started breathing hard.

Brooke noticed that Sam was breathing as though she'd just run a marathon. She stared at the teen. Sam's face was flushed. "Sam, are you OK?" She asked shakily.

Sam couldn't speak because her tongue was swelling. She gasped for air. She was now wheezing. She shook her head.

Brook stood up. She didn't know what to do, but she knew she needed to do something. Should she call 911?

This was even scarier than when Sam took off. That night Brooke had been left wondering if Sam was OK. Now Brooke knew for a fact that Sam was not OK.

Seth looked as scared as Brooke felt. Tears formed in his eyes as he watched his sister struggling to breathe. He remembered the only other time he'd seen Sam like this and suddenly it clicked. "Mom, are there peanuts in the ice cream cake?" He asked.

Even though she was on the verge of a panic attack, it warmed Brooke's heart to hear Seth call her Mom. "I don't know. Is Sam allergic to peanuts?" Brooke asked frantically. Couldn't peanut allergies be fatal? The cake she'd bought was killing her daughter! She should have asked if they were allergic to anything. Peanuts were a common allergy. Why did she have to choose a cake with peanuts in it?

"Sam, where's your EpiPen?" Seth asked. He tugged on her sleeve when she didn't answer.

Tears were streaming down Sam's face and her face was bright red. She pointed to her room.

Brooke ran into Sam's room. She started tearing through the room frantically, looking everywhere she could think of that Sam would keep an EpiPen. She found it in Sam's backpack and ran back to the kitchen.

Sam reached for the EpiPen, but Brooke shook her head. "Where do I inject you?" Brooke asked.

Sam pointed to her thigh. Seth reached for Sam's hand and squeezed it. Brooke gently lowered the sweatpants Sam was wearing and gave her the injection. Sam winced as the needle pierced her skin.

Brooke kept her eyes on Sam. "Seth, have you ever seen Sam use this before?" She asked.

"Yeah. She ate Chinese food that was cooked in peanut oil last year. It was really scary," Seth said.

"Do you know what your mom did after she gave Sam the injection?" Brooke asked.

"We went to the emergency room," Seth replied.

Sam was still breathing heavily, but she wasn't wheezing anymore. Brooke helped the teen up. She placed a hand on Sam's back and guided her to the car. She couldn't shake the fear that Sam would keel over. Seth held onto Sam's hand until he got in the backseat. Brooke opened the passenger door for Sam and waited until the teen was situated to get in the driver's seat.

Brooke was driving double the legal speed limit. She didn't care. She had to get Sam to the hospital. She kept darting anxious glances as Sam to make sure the teen was still breathing.

They were all on edge when they got to the emergency room. Brooke ran to the desk with Sam and Seth in tow. "My daughter's allergic to peanuts. She ate ice cream cake with peanuts in it. I injected her with her EpiPen, but she's still not breathing normally," Brooke said frantically.

They were taken back to an exam room and a doctor came in almost immediately. He told Sam to lie down on the table and he adjusted it so that her feet were elevated. "Try to relax. Take deep breathes," he said. He listened to her heartbeat and measured her heart rate. "You need another injection."

Sam stiffened when the doctor pulled her sweatpants down to reveal her thigh. She was still uncomfortable with men touching her. Her breathing became noticeably harder as she panicked.

Brooke noticed Sam's reaction and immediately understood. "Can I give her the injection?" She asked. She didn't wait for an answer before stepping in front of the doctor and taking the needle from his hands.

The doctor looked like he was about to argue, but stopped when he saw Brooke's expression. She was obviously not going to take no for an answer. He watched as she gave Sam the injection. "Hold it right there for a minute," he instructed. After a minute, he said, "OK. Now massage her thigh."

Brooke followed the doctor's instructions exactly, terrified of doing something wrong. Her touch was gentle as she rubbed Sam's skin where the needle went in.

The doctor examined Sam again after the injection had time to take effect. He regarded Sam with a severe expression. "You're very lucky. You have a severe allergy to peanuts. Allergic reactions can increase in severity with additional exposures to the trigger. This is the second time you've been in the emergency room for ingesting peanuts. This time you needed a higher dosage of the epinephrine. Do you know how close you came to dying?"

"I couldn't breathe so I'm guessing pretty damn close," Sam said with a hint of anger.

"Samantha!" Brooke scolded.

"You need to be careful not to eat _anything_ with peanuts in it. Even a small amount could be fatal. I don't want to see you in here for an allergic reaction again," the doctor continued.

"That makes two of us," Sam said with a hint of sarcasm.

"You didn't have to be so rude," Brooke said with a disapproving look as the doctor left to arrange for Sam's discharge.

"He was a jerk," Sam said defensively.

"Yeah, he was," Brooke agreed. "But he was also right. You need to be more careful. I could have lost you. Do you have any idea how scared I was?"

"I didn't know the cake had peanuts in it. I'm sorry," Sam said. She couldn't help but notice how concerned Brooke had been. She truly felt bad for scaring Brooke.

"I'm just glad you're OK," Brooke said gently. She raised her eyebrows. "Now are there any other allergies I should know about?"

"No," Sam replied.

Brooke took Sam and Seth home. She didn't want to leave Sam alone. She knew the doctor said Sam would be OK, but she wanted to make sure she was there if anything happened. She left the teen in the living room for a few minutes so she could tuck Seth in.

"You were so brave tonight," Brooke said with a smile.

"I was scared," Seth admitted.

"It's OK to get scared. I was scared, too. You were a big help," Brooke said. She kissed Seth's forehead and pulled the covers up. She smiled as he snuggled in and drifted off to sleep.

Brooke reappeared in the living room and studied Sam carefully for any sign that something was wrong.

Sam smirked. "Don't worry. I didn't eat peanuts while you tucked Seth in."

"That makes me feel so much better about your near death experience," Brooke retorted.

Sam rolled her eyes. They watched the second half of a chick flick on TV. Brooke split her attention between the TV and Sam. Brooke noticed Sam's eyes drooping. The teen had been fighting sleep since they got home. She was worn out.

"Sam, why don't you go to bed?" Brooke suggested.

Sam nodded sleepily. Brooke followed Sam into her room and sat down in Sam's desk chair. Sam stared at Brooke. "Are you going to watch me sleep?"

Brooke nodded. "Yeah."

"That's a little creepy," Sam said.

"No, what's creepy is watching your daughter fight for her life," Brooke retorted.

Sam smiled a little at Brooke calling Sam her daughter. She decided not to argue. She felt bad for scaring Brook and she knew she wouldn't win. She got into bed. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Brooke didn't move from Sam's side until the morning. She watched Sam all night. The closed-off teen looked surprisingly vulnerable as she slept.


	16. Lean On Me

**Thanks for the reviews! This chapter is fluffy with some Brooke/Julian/Seth because some people wanted to see that. The next chapter will have more drama.**

Monday

"Hey Buddy, do you want to go shopping today?" Brooke asked Seth.

"No," Seth replied.

Brooke looked surprised. Sam laughed. "You are talking to a five year old boy, you know. I can watch him if you want to go shopping," Sam offered.

"I guess not everyone likes shopping as much as me," Brooke said.

"I'm pretty sure no one likes shopping as much as you," Sam said with a hint of sarcasm.

"As much as I love shopping for myself, I actually need to take Seth shopping. He's grown out of a lot of his old clothes," Brooke explained.

"In that case, I recommend bribes," Sam said.

Brooke smiled a little. "OK, Seth, we need to go shopping and then we can go to the candy store," she said.

"OK," Seth agreed quickly.

"Do you want to come, Sam?" Brooke asked.

"No," Sam said quickly.

Brooke hesitated. She didn't know if she wanted to leave Sam alone. "No Jack," she said.

Sam pretended to be hugely disappointed. She hit her fist against the table. "Damn." She smirked.

"Language, Samantha," Brooke scolded. Sam rolled her eyes.

Brooke took Seth to the mall. "What stores do you like?" She asked. The mall had several kid's stores, and she had no idea which one he would like.

"The toy store," Seth replied.

Brooke laughed. "What _clothing_ stores do you like?" She tried again. Seth shrugged.

They went into one of the department stores and Brooke started browsing, selecting several items she thought were cute. Seth looked incredibly bored. Every time Brooke held up a shirt and asked if he liked it, he shrugged.

Brooke ushered him into a fitting room with a huge pile of clothes. "I'll be right out here. Come show me when you get the first outfit on."

Seth modeled each of the outfits Brooke had chosen for her. She gushed over how cute he looked in each of them. She swore he was channeling Sam with the constant eye rolling.

They left the store with a shopping bag filled to the brim with clothes. Brooke was much more excited about the clothes than Seth was. They ran into Julian as they left the store.

Julian smirked. "Brooke Davis shopping in a department store. That's something I never thought I'd see."

"I was shopping for Seth," Brooke retorted.

Julian looked at Seth and smirked. "Are you sure you weren't boring the kid to death?" Seth laughed.

Brooke glared at Seth. "You think that's funny, do you?"

Julian took some loose change out of his pocket and handed it to Seth. He nodded toward a fountain a few feet away. "You want to go throw these in the fountain?" Seth nodded and hurried off.

"Stay where I can see you," Brooke called to his retreating form. She smiled at Julian. "You're really good with kids."

"Let's just hope I'm as good with their foster mom," Julian said with a smirk.

"You're OK," Brooke said.

"Just OK?" Julian asked.

Brooke smiled flirtatiously. Julian kissed her. The kiss was long enough to make Brooke weak at the knees. "Maybe you're better than OK," she admitted. Julian grinned.

Brooke looked over toward the fountain and didn't see Seth. Her smile instantly disappeared. "Where's Seth?"

Julian looked toward the fountain. They walked over to it together. "I'm sure he's here. He's probably just on the other side." They circled the fountain and didn't see Seth anywhere.

"He's not here! Julian, I lost him! Oh my gosh, I lost Seth!" Brooke cried out. The color drained from her face.

"We'll find him. He's in the mall somewhere," Julian said gently.

"The toy store. He said he liked the toy store," Brooke murmured.

Julian nodded and they headed toward the toy store together. "You're always here when I can't find my kids," Brooke commented.

"You should probably stop losing them," Julian said with a smirk.

Brooke glared at him. Julian searched the toy store while Brooke asked the salesperson if she'd seen Seth. They both turned up empty-handed. Brooke had tears in her eyes. "I don't know where else to look for him. I don't know what to do!"

Julian wrapped his arms around Brooke and rubbed her back comfortingly. He pulled back and looked in her eyes. "Shh. It's going to be OK. We'll find him. It's not like we don't have experience in finding missing kids. Call Sam."

"So she can go postal because I lost her brother?" Brooke asked.

"No, so she can help us look for him because she knows him better than anyone," Julian said calmly.

Brooke knew he was right, but she also knew Sam was not going to be happy. "She's going to hate me for losing him," she said.

"She's not going to hate you. You know she loves you," Julian said gently.

Brooke dialed Sam's cell and waited anxiously.

"Miss me already?" Sam said sarcastically when she answered.

"Sam, I lost Seth! I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened. He was with me and then he just disappeared!" Brooke said desperately.

"Relax, Brooke," Sam said in a surprisingly calm tone.

How could Sam be this calm when her brother was missing? "Did you hear me? I lost Seth," Brooke said again.

"I'm not deaf," Sam retorted. "Where did you lose him?"

"I'm sorry, am I talking to Samantha Walker? Overprotective sister? Why aren't you screaming at me? I deserve it," Brooke cried out.

"Brooke, everyone loses little kids at some point. My mom lost him in the grocery store once. She found him in the candy aisle. Where did you lose him?" Sam said.

"We're in the mall. He was throwing coins in the fountain by the department store," Brooke replied.

"There's a pet store right across from the fountain. I'll bet you anything he's in there looking at puppies," Sam said.

Brooke hung up feeling a little better, but she knew she wouldn't be able to relax until she found Seth. Brooke and Julian rushed to the pet store. Sure enough, Seth was staring at golden retriever puppies with a big grin on his face.

Brooke ran to Seth and pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank goodness! Are you OK?"

Seth looked confused. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Seth, I told you to stay where I could see you. Why did you come in here?" Brooke asked. She couldn't believe she'd been worried sick, and he'd been looking at puppies the whole time.

"I wanted to see the puppies," Seth replied.

"Next time you want to see the puppies, tell me and we'll go see them together! You can't run off like that, OK?" Brooke said sternly. She wasn't really mad at him. She was just upset that she'd lost him, and she wanted to make sure he knew that he couldn't wander off ever again.

Seth nodded. "OK. Can we still go to the candy store?"

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we can still go to the candy store."

They walked to the candy store together. Seth was in between Brooke and Julian holding onto their hands. Brooke held his hand a little more tightly than necessary. She wasn't letting go.

"What kind of candy do you want, Buddy?" Brooke asked.

Seth pointed at nearly every type of candy in the store. Brooke laughed. She grabbed a little plastic bag to fill for him. "I don't think all of that will fit in here."

"What's your favorite kind of candy?" Julian asked Brooke.

"Godiva Chocolate," Brooke replied. Julian filed that away for future reference.

They filled a bag of candy for Seth, and with Seth's help filled a bag for Sam as well. Brooke avoided anything that had any type of nut in it. She'd been anal about checking the ingredients of everything before allowing Sam to touch it since their visit to the emergency room.

"Sam, we're home!" Brooke called.

Sam emerged from her room. Seth bolted toward her, nearly knocking her over. "Sam! We got candy! You can have some if you want!"

Sam stared at Brooke with raised eyebrows. "How much sugar has he had?"

"Not as much as he wanted," Brooke said with a smirk.


	17. Father of Mine

Saturday:

It had been two weeks since Brooke decided to adopt Sam and Seth. She'd filed the paperwork. It would take a little while to become official. Somehow the tabloids had found out that Brooke was in the process of adopting, and splashed it all over. They'd yet to realize she was dating Julian. Thank goodness for small favors. Things between Brooke and Julian had been heating up, but she still wouldn't let him stay at her place because of the kids.

Sam was sleeping when the doorbell woke her up. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was only nine am. She groaned and rolled over to try to go back to sleep, assuming Brooke would answer the door.

About a minute later the doorbell rang again. Sam reluctantly got up and stomped out of her room. As she passed the counter, she saw a note from Brooke. Brooke and Seth had gone shopping for new basketball shoes for Seth. That explained why no one else was answering the door.

Sam wondered who could be at the door. She certainly wasn't expecting anyone, and Brooke wasn't even there. Sam opened the door and stared open-mouthed at the man standing on the doorstep. She hadn't seen him for over five years, but she recognized her father instantly. He'd gained a little bit of weight. Other than that, he looked the same as the day he'd left. Sam remembered that day as though it was yesterday.

Rebecca was pregnant with Seth when Jimmy walked out on them. Rebecca and Jimmy had been having problems in their marriage for a long time. They'd never been in love. They'd only gotten married because Jimmy got Rebecca pregnant when they were in high school, and their parents insisted they get married. Rebecca had gotten pregnant again in a last ditch attempt to save the marriage. It had the opposite effect.

Jimmy hadn't contacted Sam once since he left. He'd missed the last five years of her life. It wasn't much of a loss. He hadn't been a good dad when he was part of her life. He spent most of his time working. He also drank heavily. He was a mean drunk. He'd never even met Seth, and Sam didn't want him going anywhere near Seth.

"You don't recognize me," Jimmy said when Sam didn't invite him in. He didn't sound hurt. He actually sounded somewhat amused.

"Yeah, I do. You haven't changed a bit. Except your waist line," Sam said with a smirk.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" Jimmy asked.

Sam shook her head. "No, I'm not."

"Didn't your mom teach you any manners?" Jimmy asked with a hint of anger.

"My mom taught me not to talk to strangers, which is what you are. I haven't seen you in five years," Sam retorted.

"You're not happy to see your old man?" Jimmy said.

"No, so why don't you crawl back wherever you came from?" Sam said angrily.

Jimmy laughed. "You're just like your mom."

"Thank you," Sam said.

"It wasn't a compliment, Honey," Jimmy retorted. "I'm not going anywhere. I need to talk to Brooke Davis."

What could he possibly need to talk to Brooke about? Sam had a bad feeling about this. She didn't trust her dad any further than she could throw him. "Steer clear of her," Sam said firmly.

Jimmy laughed. "Sorry, Kid. I'm not going anywhere until I talk to her."

"What do you want with her?" Sam asked. She knew she wasn't going to like the answer.

"I read that the rich bitch is trying to adopt my kids," Jimmy said.

"First of all, she's not a bitch. Second, we're not your kids. Third, what is your point?" Sam muttered.

"I want in on it," Jimmy said.

"In on what?" Sam demanded.

"You snot-nosed brats are living the high life in this big house. It's not right for your dad to be in the poorhouse," Jimmy explained.

"Let me get this straight. You want to live here?" Sam said.

Jimmy shrugged. "I'll take what I can get."

Sam shook her head. "She's not going to give you anything. You need to leave before Seth gets home."

"Oh, she's going to give me something alright. If she doesn't, she's not adopting you," Jimmy said.

"You don't get a choice in the matter!" Sam yelled.

"That's where you're wrong, Sweetheart. Like it or not, I'm your dad. I have rights," Jimmy said with a smirk.

"You have NO rights! You gave up your rights when you walked out the door and never looked back!" Sam screamed.

"I talked to a lawyer. He said judges always try to keep kids with their biological parents. If I fight this adoption, make no mistake about it, I'll win," Jimmy shot back.

"You're not a parent. You're a sperm donor. Win what? Brooke's not going to give you anything and you obviously don't want us!" Sam spat out.

"I think she'll give me money. If she doesn't, you're in foster care now so I'd get a check from the government," Jimmy said.

"No, _you_ wouldn't. _Foster_ parents get a check from the government. _Real_ parents don't!" Sam said with a hint of anger.

Jimmy refused to leave. Sam was beginning to wonder if what he'd said was true. He _was_ their father. Sam remembered hearing somewhere that courts usually tried to keep kids with their biological parents. Jimmy said he'd talked to a lawyer. He seemed confident that he'd be able to get something.

What would Brooke do? Sam couldn't picture Brooke buying her and Seth from Jimmy, which was basically what he wanted her to do. It was so sketchy. Brooke was better than that. So Brooke would probably fight him for custody, which meant she could lose. Sam couldn't let that happen.

Sam did not want Seth anywhere near Jimmy. She tried to think of a way to keep him away. She could only think of one thing. She would have to make a deal with the devil.

"Look, I know Brooke really well. There's NO way she's going to give you money. She'll fight for custody, which means you'll either lose or you'll win and get stuck with two kids. I want you to stay away from Seth, so I'll make you a deal. I'll move in with you, and you can have the check from the government IF you stay away from Brooke and Seth," Sam said. She watched Jimmy anxiously hoping he would take her up on the offer.

Jimmy nodded. "Deal."

"I need to talk to Brooke and figure everything out," Sam said. She was just relieved that he'd been willing to deal.

"If you don't hold up your end of the deal, I won't hold up mine," Jimmy warned her.

"Hey," Brooke said with a smile as she and Seth entered the house with shopping bags. "I'm surprised you're up. I thought you'd sleep until noon." Sam nodded and forced herself to smile.

"Look what I got!" Seth hurried toward Sam and showed off his new shoes.

"Those are pretty cool. I'll bet you can jump really high in them," Sam said.

"Like how high?" Seth asked.

Sam picked Seth up and held him high enough so he could touch the ceiling. "This high."

"Not really, though, right?" Seth asked.

Sam laughed. "Someday you'll be able to jump that high and dunk on your own."

"When I'm older?" Seth said knowingly. Sam nodded.

Brooke smiled as she watched them. "Did you eat breakfast already or do you want me to make you something?" She asked.

"I ate," Sam replied.

"Jamie and Seth want to go play basketball at the river court so we're going over to Haley's this afternoon," Brooke said.

"Um, I actually need to talk you to about something. Do you think Haley could watch Seth for a little while so we can talk?" Sam said.

Brooke stared at Sam, trying to read the teen's expression. She looked nervous. Sam never wanted to talk. Brooke usually had to force her to talk. What could she want to talk about? Brooke had a bad feeling about this. Could Sam be pregnant?

"Yeah," Brooke said. She didn't know how she was going to make it through the next few hours wondering if her daughter was pregnant.

Brooke and Sam dropped Seth off at Haley's and then went back to the house. They sat down at the kitchen table. They wore equally worried expressions but for different reasons.

"I talked to my dad today," Sam said.

Brooke let out the breath she'd been holding. Sam talking to her dad was a lot better than Sam being pregnant.

Sam had tears in her eyes. She didn't want to hurt Brooke's feelings. She knew Brooke would think Sam didn't want to live with her anymore, and that couldn't be further from the truth. She just didn't have a choice anymore. "He wants me live with him."

Brooke looked up in surprise. Sam saw a flicker of pain in Brooke's eyes. "What do you want to do?" Brooke asked. She struggled to keep her tone even. She didn't want Sam to know how upset she was at the possibility of losing the kids she'd come to think of as her own. She wanted to do what was best for Sam and Seth no matter what. Maybe spending time with their birth father was best for them.

"Brooke, thank you for everything. You've been so good to me. You've been a second mom. I'm really sorry, but I want to live with my dad," Sam said. She stared at the table as she spoke. She just hoped Brooke wouldn't hate her for this.

Brooke felt tears forming in her eyes and tried to hold them in. "You don't have to be sorry. You have a right to spend time with your dad, Samantha." Brooke swallowed a lump in the back of her throat. She was losing one of the people who meant the most to her in this world. "Does he want Seth to live with him too?" She had to ask.

Sam shook her head. "No," she said quickly.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. Why would a parent want one child and not the other?

"Seth's not his kid." Technically it was a lie, but Sam didn't consider Jimmy their father. Jimmy had never even met Seth. Sam knew this explanation would raise the least concern. She couldn't tell Brooke the truth. She knew Brooke wouldn't let her leave if she knew what was really going on. If Sam didn't do this, both she _and _Seth could end up paying the price. "Look, Seth doesn't know all of this. The less we tell him the better. Maybe we can just tell him I'm staying with a friend?"

Sam's explanation raised red flags, but Brooke told herself she was just looking for a reason not to let Sam go. She loved Sam. She didn't want Sam to leave. She knew Sam would never do anything to hurt Seth, so she nodded. "OK."

Sam knew it would be difficult to convince Brooke to give her the checks from the government. It's not that Brooke wanted the money for herself. Unlike Jimmy, Brooke didn't have a selfish bone in her body. It's just that Sam knew Brooke would be concerned if she thought Jimmy couldn't afford to take care of her. Sam prepared herself for an argument. "Can I have the checks from the government? You know, for my dad?"

"I don't know. I don't think they'll give your dad checks because he's not a foster parent," Brooke said. Honestly she didn't know much about the checks to begin with. She'd been putting them into a savings account for college.

"I know. You'll still get them, though, right? You can just give them to me," Sam said, her tone pleading.

"I won't get checks if you're not living here," Brooke pointed out.

"Maybe we could keep my living situation on the DL?" Sam tried again.

"That would be illegal," Brooke said. She looked concerned as she made eye contact with Sam. "What do you need the money for, Samantha?"

Sam knew Brooke wasn't going to agree to this. If she kept asking questions, Brooke would start to get suspicious. "Never mind. It's not important. How much are the checks?" Sam asked.

"They're about five hundred per month. Why?" Brooke said with raised eyebrows.

Sam shrugged. "Just curious." Brooke looked suspicious. Sam knew she was about to ask questions Sam wouldn't be able to answer, so she made an excuse to leave. "I'm going to pack."

Sam would need to figure out a way to get five hundred for her dad. She could probably pawn some of her things to come up with five hundred for this month, but then she'd have to get a job.

Brooke sat at the kitchen table. She was still a little shocked. She couldn't believe Sam was packing her bags in the other room. Brooke was in the process of adopting Sam and Seth, and now Sam was leaving. When Brooke woke up that morning, she had a happy family. Now her family was falling apart before her eyes. As much as Brooke wanted to tell Sam not to go, she knew she couldn't do that.

Sam emerged from her room with her bags. She hesitated. She didn't really know what to say. She knew she was hurting Brooke, and she hated herself for it.

Brooke looked up in surprise. "You're leaving now?" Sam nodded. "What about Seth?" She couldn't believe Sam would leave without saying goodbye to her brother. This was so unlike Sam.

"Just tell him I'm staying with a friend. I'll visit…if that's OK with you," Sam said.

"Of course it's OK. You will always have a home here," Brooke said. She looked into Sam's eyes. Sam was on the verge of tears. "Sam, this is what you want, right? You're happy?"

"Yeah, this is the best thing for everyone," Sam said.

Brooke hugged Sam. "I love you, Samantha."

"I love you, too," Sam replied.


	18. Dirty Little Secret

Sunday

Jimmy's apartment building was near X's house. In other words, it wasn't in a good part of town. It was old, and looked like it hadn't been updated in decades. He had a studio apartment with a queen-sized bed, a worn couch, a coffee table and a TV. Clutter made the small apartment seem even more cramped. Empty beer cans were lined up on the kitchen counter. Dirty dishes were stacked unwashed in the sink.

Jimmy and Sam barely spoke to each other since she'd arrived. A little after midnight, she finally asked where she was supposed to sleep. Jimmy smirked and nodded toward the couch. Sam sighed and set her bag down near the couch. It reeked of cigarette smoke.

Sam wished she were at home. She realized for the first time that she'd come to think of Brooke's house as her home. She hadn't missed Rebecca this badly in a long time, but now she wanted her mom.

Sam wanted to ask her mom what she should do because she honestly didn't know. She felt like she'd just made the biggest mistake of her life. She reminded herself that she was doing this for Seth. She would do anything for her brother. She thought Rebecca would tell her to protect him with her life, and that's what she intended to do.

Brooke called Julian and asked him to come over after she put Seth to bed. She missed Sam, and she didn't want to be alone that night.

"Brooke, what's wrong?" One look at Brooke's face told Julian something was terribly wrong. His voice dripped with concern.

"I lost Sam," Brooke said, her voice thick with tears.

Julian grasped Brooke's hands and looked into her eyes, hoping he could transfer some of his confidence to her. He hated seeing her like this. "We found her last time. We'll find her again."

Brooke shook her head. "I let her go. She wanted to move in with her dad. She's gone."

"Brooke, she loves you no matter where she's living. You know that," Julian said gently.

"I know. It's just hard," Brooke said.

Julian pulled Brooke into a hug and rubbed her back comfortingly. Brooke leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder and embracing the comfort and support. He'd been great. He'd helped her with Sam and Seth without her asking. He was always there for her.

"Stay with me tonight. I don't want to be alone," Brooke said. She pulled him to the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

"Are you sure Seth's asleep?" Julian asked. Brooke nodded.

Brooke kissed Julian desperately. She'd wanted him since their first dinner. She'd been waiting too long. She couldn't wait anymore. She took her shirt off. Soon all of their clothes lay discarded on the floor. Brooke lay down on her bed and Julian joined her. He hovered over her, his hard muscled body over hers. He kissed a trail down her neck. They were both ready when he finally entered her.

Brooke fell asleep contentedly in Julian's arms. She woke up early the next morning. She didn't need an alarm anymore. She was so used to getting up to get the kids ready for school that she couldn't sleep in if she tried.

"Julian," Brooke said. She touched his shoulder gently to wake him up.

Julian's eyes fluttered open. He smiled when he saw Brooke. He wondered if she knew how sexy she looked in the morning. He rolled on top of her and kissed her. Brooke pulled away. "Julian, you have to go before Seth wakes up."

Julian groaned. He got dressed. He crept out, making as little noise as possible. He made it past Seth's room, only to find Seth sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons and eating a bowl of cereal.

"Julian! What are you doing here?" Seth asked. His face shone with excitement when he saw Julian.

"Uh…" Julian glanced back at Brooke's door, looking for the answers. He knew Brooke wouldn't be happy that they'd been caught red-handed.

"Did you and Brooke have a sleepover?" Seth asked with the innocence of a five year old.

Brooke heard Seth's voice and emerged from her bedroom in her robe. She sighed when she saw him talking animatedly to Julian. She shouldn't have let Julian stay.

Julian grinned. "Yeah."

"Next time you spend the night, you can stay in my room and we can build a fort," Seth said.

Julian hid his amusement skillfully. "You're in luck. I happen to be an excellent fort builder."

"Did you make breakfast for yourself?" Brooke asked as she surveyed the mess Seth had left in the kitchen. He'd taken every single cereal box out of the pantry and spilled milk and sticky chocolate syrup all over the kitchen counter.

Seth nodded. "I didn't want to wake you up."

Brooke smiled as she cleaned the mess he'd left in his wake. She supposed she should be glad he hadn't woken her up. He would have found her and Julian in a compromising position. "What are you eating, Buddy?"

"Captain Crunch, Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms with chocolate milk. It's really good. Do you want some?" Seth said.

Brooke wrinkled her nose. "No."

"Brooke, when's Sam going to be home from her sleepover?" Seth asked.

Sadness instantly filled Brooke's eyes, but she forced a smile for Seth's benefit. "Sam's sleepover is going to last a while, Buddy."

Seth scrunched up his face as he tried to understand. "Like summer camp?"

"Yeah," Brooke said with a smile.

"I have an idea. What do you say you and I go play catch in the park and then I can take you and your mom out for lunch?" Julian suggested in an attempt to distract Seth from the subject of Sam.

Brooke froze when Julian referred to her as Seth's mom. She didn't know how Seth would react to that. She held her breath as she waited for his reaction.

To her relief, Seth didn't even seem to notice the slip up. He lit up and nodded eagerly. He left his forgotten bowl of cereal on the coffee table and ran into his room to change.

"Thank you," Brooke murmured.

Julian grinned. "I figure maybe I get to spend more time with you."

Julian spent the entire day with Seth and Brooke. He'd managed to keep Seth's mind of Sam. Brooke wasn't as easily distracted, but his presence was making Sam's absence a little easier.

Brooke asked Julian to stay again. Of course he agreed. Brooke put Seth to bed and then cuddled up to Julian on the couch. She leaned her head against his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her. As comfortable as she was in his arms, she still looked sad.

"Is there anything I can do?" Julian asked.

"You're doing it," Brooke replied.

"Why did their dad want Sam to live with him but not Seth?" Julian asked.

"Seth has a different dad," Brooke replied.

"No, I don't."

Both Brooke and Julian sat up straight and swiveled to look at Seth when they heard his small voice from behind them. Brooke sighed. She'd thought he was asleep. She should have been more careful. She was mostly concerned about how Seth would react to what he'd overheard, but she was also curious about what he'd said.

"Seth, you're supposed to be in bed," Brooke said.

"I can't sleep. My tummy hurts," Seth whined.

Brooke rose to her feet. She was at Seth's side in seconds. She felt his forehead. "You don't have a fever. You probably just ate too much junk food," she said, remembering his breakfast and their dinner that had consisted of pizza and ice cream.

Brooke grabbed a box of saltine crackers and poured a glass of Ginger Ale. She handed them to him. "Here." Seth climbed into Brooke's lap on the couch. He ate a few crackers and sipped the drink.

Brooke hesitated. She didn't want to say anything that would upset Seth, but she wanted some answers. "Did you hear us, Buddy?"

Seth nodded. "You said I have a different dad than Sam, but you're wrong."

"Are you sure?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah. I've never met him. He left when I was still in Mom's tummy. I asked where he was, and Mom said he loved me very much, but he didn't love her anymore so he left. She was really sad. She doesn't know I know, but she went to her room and cried. I heard Mom and Sam talking. Sam said I was better off not knowing him. Then she said something else, but I don't know what it meant," Seth explained.

Brooke frowned. This didn't make any sense. Why would Sam lie? Even more disturbing, why would Sam want to live with their father if Sam said those things about him? "What did she say, Seth?"

"She said he's not our dad. He's just a sperm donor. What does that mean?" Seth asked curiously.

Brooke looked at Julian for help. She had no idea how to answer that question. Julian shrugged helplessly. "I'm not sure what she meant," Brooke said for lack of a better explanation.

Seth looked a little disappointed, but it didn't last long. He snuggled against Brooke. "I love you," he mumbled as he fell asleep on top of her.

Brooke smiled and rubbed his head. "I love you, too."


	19. Rain City

Monday

Haley looked up from her desk when she heard the clicking of heels on her classroom floor. She smiled when she saw Brooke. "Hey. How are you doing?"

"I've been better," Brooke said.

Haley smiled sympathetically. "You really miss her, don't you?" She asked knowingly. She didn't need to explain who she was referring to because they both knew Sam was the person Brooke missed so bad it hurt.

"Yeah," Brooke replied. "Was she in class today?"

Haley nodded.

"Was she OK?" Brooke asked. She'd been up all night worrying about Sam. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She felt like she was trying to put a puzzle together, but none of the pieces fit.

"Yeah. Why? Did something else happen?" Haley asked, her voice laced with concern.

"I don't know. Sam said she and Seth had different fathers. That's why her dad wanted her to live with him, but not Seth. I was talking to Julian last night and Seth overheard. Seth said they have the same father. I don't understand why Sam would lie about that," Brooke said.

"Maybe Seth doesn't know. He's just a little kid," Haley said dismissively.

"He absolutely knew what he was talking about. He remembered a conversation he overheard between Rebecca and Sam. Sam said Seth was better off not knowing their father. She called him a sperm donor instead of a father," Brooke said defensively. "Why would she want to live with him instead of me?"

"He's her dad. I mean, look at Lucas. Dan didn't claim him, and Lucas still gave him a chance," Haley said.

"OK. But why would she want to live with him, and want Seth to live with me? She loves Seth," Brooke said desperately.

Haley shrugged. "Maybe she wants to make sure he's changed before he spends time with Seth. Maybe she wants him to herself for a little while."

"You can't seriously think she would keep him away from Seth because she wants him to herself?" Brooke asked incredulously. "She does everything for Seth. She always puts him first. She wouldn't do that."

"Then I don't know what to tell you," Haley said.

Brooke's conversation with Haley did little to make her feel better. She didn't know what to do. She didn't think it was her place to make the decision of whether Sam lived with Brooke or her dad. If their dad had changed and was trying to make up for last time, Sam had a right to get to know him. But, Brooke definitely didn't trust Sam's dad with her.

Brooke hadn't decided how to handle the situation. She was surprised when Sam showed up at her house after school.

Sam approached Brooke's doorstep. She didn't know whether she should use her key or knock. She decided to knock because it wasn't her home anymore.

Brooke opened the door. "Sam, what are you doing here?"

Sam's smile faded and she looked nervous. "Is it OK that I'm here? I just wanted to see Seth."

"Of course it's OK," Brooke said reassuringly. She hated that Sam thought otherwise. She opened the door and ushered Sam in. "But Seth is at basketball practice. I'm glad you're here. I actually wanted to talk to you."

They sat down at the kitchen table. Sam fidgeted nervously in her chair.

"I was talking to Julian last night. He asked why your dad wanted you to live with him, but not Seth. I said you had different dads. Seth overheard and-"

"You said you wouldn't tell him!" Sam yelled.

"I didn't mean for him to hear, but that's not the point. You said you had different dads. You lied to my face," Brooke said. Her voice held hurt, not anger.

"Seth's five. He doesn't know what he's talking about," Sam said dismissively.

"Sam, I called Fern. I know you have the same dad," Brooke said. She couldn't sit there and listen to more lies. She shook her head sadly. "I don't understand why you lied to me."

Sam's cheeks burned and she looked down. "Look, he doesn't even know Seth. He has no right to show up out of the blue and be in Seth's life."

"But he has a right to be in your life?" Brooke asked with raised eyebrows.

Sam shrugged. "At least he was there for part of my life."

Brooke's eyebrows arched even higher. She knew Sam wasn't being honest. "Seth overheard you say he was better off not knowing your dad to your mom. Sam, I know what it's like to have parents you'd be better off without. I had one who ignored me and one who resented me. But I don't know why you would want to live with your dad. I avoid my parents like the plague."

"What are you saying? Are you saying I can't live with him?" Sam demanded. She almost hoped Brooke would say yes.

Brooke shook her head. "I can't tell you what to do. I just want what's best for you. I'm just trying to understand."

Sam sighed. "He's my dad. That means something." It meant he would have a case in court, Sam thought miserably. That was the only thing it meant to her.

"Sam, you're happy with your dad, right?" Brooke asked. She stared into the teen's eyes.

Sam nodded. She couldn't bring herself to say the words. She felt tears forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Brooke."

"Oh, Honey, you don't have anything to be sorry for," Brooke said. She got up and pulled Sam into a hug. She rubbed the teen's back comfortingly.

The door opened and Seth burst in, followed closely by Julian. Seth barreled toward Sam, nearly knocking her down. Sam swiped at the tears in her eyes before looking at him. "Hey! How was practice? Were you the best player on the whole team?"

"No. I'm good, but Jamie's better," Seth said truthfully. "We have a game on Saturday. Will you come?" He looked up at his sister with puppy dog eyes.

"Of course," Sam replied.

"Everyone's coming. Julian and Brooke and Uncle Nathan and Aunt Haley," Seth rambled on excitedly.

"I gotta go. I'll see you on Saturday, OK?" Sam said.

"Do you _have_ to go? Can you stay?" Seth asked. His grin turned into a pout and he held onto Sam's hand.

"I gotta go," Sam said flatly. She'd much rather stay, but she had to go.

Sam was starting her new job waitressing at a diner that night. She got on the bus and got off at the stop closest to the diner. She was working on weekdays from five pm to eleven pm. She hoped that with tips she'd make enough to come up with the five hundred for Jimmy.

She'd spent the better part of Sunday looking for a job that paid enough, and realized it was easier said than done. Everyplace that hired teenagers part-time paid minimum wage. Even worse, you had to be at least sixteen to work at most places. Sam eventually started lying about her age to get a job.

Seth sat on the couch pouting about his sister leaving. Brooke started cooking dinner.

"Does anyone want to play Wii with me?" Julian asked

"I'll play with you!" Seth said quickly, his features instantly brightening into a grin.

Brooke smiled gratefully at Julian. Julian played video games with Seth until Brooke called them to dinner.

"Who won?" Brooke asked.

"I did!" Seth said with a smile. "Julian's really bad at video games."

Julian grinned and made eye contact with Brooke. "I have other talents."

"You know how to play baseball and you make Brooke smile," Seth commented.

Brooke blushed a little and smiled.

Julian smirked. "Among other things." With this statement, Brooke kicked him under the table. Julian winced.

"How was school?" Brooke asked in an attempt to change the subject.

Seth scrunched his face up. "Boring." Brooke smiled.

After dinner, Seth did his homework and then Brooke went in to tuck him in. "Will you read me a story?" Seth asked, looking up at Brooke with puppy dog eyes.

Brooke sat down on his bed beside him and grabbed a book at random from the shelf above his bed. By the time she finished reading the story, Seth was sound asleep. Brooke pulled the covers over him and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

Julian was sitting on the couch looking at his Blackberry. He looked up when Brooke came out. "Is he asleep?" Brooke nodded. "Are you sure? We don't want a repeat of last night."

Brooke nodded. "He's down for the count." She sat down beside Julian, and he put his arm around her shoulders.

"Did you talk to Sam?" Julian asked.

"Yeah. She said they have the same dad, but he doesn't have a right to be in Seth's life because he doesn't even know Seth," Brooke replied.

"Sam's going to realize that her dad's a jerk and when that day comes, you'll be here for her. She knows that," Julian said.

"You know, you're a really great guy, and a really great boyfriend," Brooke murmured.

"Well, I think you should take your boyfriend to bed and have your way with him," Julian said with a grin.

Sam was tired when her shift ended. Her feet ached from being on them for six hours straight. She wanted to climb into bed and never get out, but she'd have to settle for Jimmy's couch.

Sam used her key to open the door to Jimmy's apartment. She walked in on something no kid should ever see. Jimmy was in a compromising position with a naked woman.

"Oh my gosh!" Sam screeched, covering her eyes. This was one of many problems with sharing a studio apartment with her father. The couch wasn't even in a separate room. It was just one big room.

Jimmy glared at her. "Can't you see we're busy?"

Sam backed out of the apartment. She didn't think of Jimmy as her dad, but she still hadn't wanted to see _that_.

Sam started walking away from the apartment with no destination in mind. Her feet carried her to the cemetery. She stood before her mother's grave looking for answers.

She remembered the funeral. She had said that Rebecca couldn't hear Seth. She'd been cruel. She wondered if the hurtful words she'd spoken had been true. Could her mom hear her?

Sam felt foolish as she looked at her mother's gravestone and spoke to it. "I need you, Mom. I need to talk to you. I need you to tell me what to do." The cemetery was silent in the night. Sam was the only visitor in the late hour. Frustration built up inside her. She kicked the ground. "Jimmy left! You left!" Tears rolled down Sam's face.


	20. Shimmer

Friday

Sam could feel Haley's eyes on her. She kept her head down and stared at the open notebook in front of her on her desk. It had been like this all week.

Sam wasn't stupid. She knew Haley and Brooke were looking for any sign that something was wrong. She knew she had to make sure they didn't find what they were looking for, but it was getting harder every day.

There wasn't enough time in the day to go to school, go to work, do her homework and sleep. Sam couldn't do it all.

She hadn't done her homework for any class except Haley's. She knew Haley would do a lot more than just give her a zero so she did her English Literature homework during her lunch hour. She couldn't spend money on lunch anyways.

All of her hard-earned money would be going to Jimmy. What a waste. He would spend it on one of three things-booze, cigarettes, or gambling.

Sam chanced a glance up at the clock on the wall directly above Haley's desk. Class was almost over. Sam began packing up so she could get out of there as soon as the bell rang. She didn't want to give Haley an opportunity to corner her.

Haley watched Sam avoid eye contact at all costs. Sam breathed a sigh of relief when the bell finally rang. The teen kept her head down and dashed for the door.

"Sam, can you come here for a minute?" Haley's voice called over the chatter of students.

Sam froze. She was so close to the door. She fought the urge to keep walking because she knew that would raise a red flag. She turned around and slowly walked toward Haley's desk. She took a defensive pose with her arms crossed protectively in front of her.

"Sam, you're a really good writer. Every writer has a unique voice. The essay you turned in yesterday didn't sound like you. It had basic grammatical errors. What's going on with you?" Haley said.

The essay was just the tip of the iceberg. Sam hadn't been herself. Even before she moved in with Brooke, Sam was one of Haley's favorite students. Sam usually participated in class and was friendly if they bumped into each other in the hallway. Now Sam was going out of her way to avoid talking to Haley.

"Sorry," Sam mumbled.

"I don't want an apology. Now tell me what's going on with you," Haley said firmly.

Sam sighed. "Look, I'm doing my best. I'm sorry if it's not good enough." The usual sarcasm was gone from her voice. She just looked and sounded tired.

"You're not doing your best. You're better than this," Haley argued.

"Last time I checked, I have the highest grade in the class. You're acting like I'm failing!" Sam cried out.

"You're not failing, Sam, but you're also not living up to your potential," Haley said.

Sam glared at Haley. "Fine. I'm not living up to my potential. Can I go now?"

Haley sighed. "Yeah."

Julian and Brooke took Seth to the newest Disney movie that evening. Julian was almost as excited as Seth, which Brooke thought was kind of cute.

"Can Sam come?" Seth asked.

Brooke's eyes instantly filled with sadness, as they always did at any mention of Sam. "I don't know if Sam wants to see this movie."

"Yes, she does," Seth argued.

"I don't know. If Sam comes, there will be less popcorn for us," Julian said.

Seth seemed to consider this and accept it. Julian got a large tub of popcorn and three sodas. Brooke raised her eyebrows. "If he gets sick…"

"I won't," Seth promised. He tugged on Julian's sleeve. "Can I help? I want to carry the popcorn."

Brooke shook her head slightly, knowing the popcorn would be all over the floor if Seth carried it.

"How about you carry one of the sodas instead?" Julian suggested. He handed a soda to Seth. Seth took it and slurped.

Seth couldn't seem to sit still in the movie theater. He played musical chairs, rotating between the empty seat beside Brooke, Brooke's lap and Julian's lap.

"Was that a date?" Seth asked as they walked out of the theater, one of his hands curled around Brooke's and the other curled around Julian's.

Julian chuckled. "If that were a date, you would be at home with a babysitter."

"But you are dating, right?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, Buddy," Brooke replied.

"And you kiss each other," Seth said knowingly. "Are you going to get married?"

"No," Brooke said quickly.

"We need to spend some more time together before I propose," Julian said with a smirk. Brooke glared at him.

"How much more time?" Seth asked.

"I don't know," Julian replied.

"Like a few more dates?" Seth asked.

"Seth, people date for a long time before they get married. Julian and I haven't been dating for that long," Brooke said.

"More than a few dates then?" Seth said with a hint of disappointment.

Brooke nodded. "Yeah."

Seth thought for a minute. "You don't have to go to my basketball game tomorrow. Then maybe you can go on a date instead."

"We want to go to your game, Buddy," Brooke said.

"OK, but when are you going to go on a date?" Seth asked.

"How about this? At the game we'll ask Sam when she can babysit this week. You can hang out with Sam and Brooke and I can go on a date," Julian suggested.

Seth nodded. "OK."

It was almost eleven. Sam had never been so excited for the weekend before in her life.

She expertly balanced two plates and set them in front of a couple. "Can I get you anything else?" She asked.

"No thanks," the woman replied.

Sam made a detour at the booth Jack had claimed as his own. He'd been hanging out at the diner. He didn't have anything better to do, and Sam was there. He was drinking coffee and stacking little cartons of crème. Sam knocked the tower of crème down and smirked at him. Jack glared at her.

"Have you eaten?" Sam asked. Jack shook his head. "I haven't either. I'll get something from the kitchen."

Sam disappeared into the kitchen. She returned with her purse and a white paper bag containing a cheeseburger. They started walking and Sam handed Jack half of the cheeseburger.

"Are you going to stay with your dad or with me tonight?" Jack asked.

"With you," Sam replied. She wasn't in any hurry to walk in on Jimmy again. Once was more than enough.

X's house wasn't much better, but at least X couldn't find anyone desperate enough to sleep with him. Sam definitely didn't have to worry about walking in on anything at his house.

"Hey," X greeted when they walked in.

"Hey," Sam replied.

Jack grabbed two beers from the refrigerator and offered one to Sam. X glared at his brother. "Look, it's hard enough to pay the bills around here with you around. I'm not buying your drinks, too."

Jack had already opened his beer. He froze mid-sip and looked at his brother nervously. X seized the beer from Jack's hands. He raised his hand and hit Jack hard across the face before rounding on Sam.

Sam grabbed a ten-dollar bill she'd received as a tip that night and thrust it at X. "We owe you for the beer, right?" X ripped the bill from Sam's hand and returned the beer to Jack.

Jack grabbed Sam's hand and they left. Jack hid their beers in his jacket. They walked to the park. They sat down on the swings and drank.

"Brooke's going to find you out sooner or later," Jack said.

"She can't. Seth can't live with Jimmy," Sam said vehemently, almost as if by saying it, it would be true.

"You don't have to either. You should tell Brooke," Jack said.

"No! If Jimmy fights the adoption, he could win. If he wins, Seth loses. I won't let him win," Sam muttered.

"You need help, Sam," Jack argued.

"Yeah, and you don't? I'll tell you what. I'll tell Brooke just as soon as you stop running from Social Services," Sam said with a hint of sarcasm. The comment was enough to shut Jack up.

They retired in the jungle gym. It obscured their sleeping forms from view. The roof helped shield them from the wind, but the night air was still cool. Jack and Sam cuddled together in hopes that the closeness of their bodies would keep them warm. Body heat was not enough to insulate them from the dropping temperatures that came with late fall.

Sam woke up shivering in the middle of the night. She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself, doing anything she could to warm herself up even if it only made the slightest difference.


	21. Through Glass

Saturday

Sam had been awake since about five am. She kept waking up because she was so cold. She'd finally given up on sleeping. She let Jack sleep until she saw people up and about, getting coffee or going for a morning run. She knew they had to get out of there before someone saw them. "Jack, wake up."

Jack let out a groan as he stretched before sitting up. "What's going on?"

"We gotta go," Sam said.

"Where?" Jack asked.

"Well, we can go back to Jimmy's. The cheap slut he's sleeping with is usually gone by morning. Seth's game isn't until eleven," Sam said.

They walked to Jimmy's apartment. Sam unlocked the door and stepped in warily. Jimmy was snoring in the bed alone. Sam motioned for Jack to be quiet and waved him in. She started a pot of coffee. Coffee and beer were the only two food items Jimmy always had. She poured two mugs and handed on to Jack. They sat down on the couch.

"You went from living in a big house with a famous fashion designer to living in a studio with that," Jack whispered incredulously. He nodded toward the sleeping form with a look of disgust.

"Maybe I'm getting what I deserve," Sam said quietly.

Jack's brow furrowed in confusion. "You don't deserve this."

"You don't know that," Sam said.

"Sam, you're a good person," Jack said.

"No, I'm not. My mom's dead because of me," Sam argued.

Jack shook his head. "Your mom died in a car accident."

"Yeah, on the way to the assembly because I was stupid and selfish and asked her to come," Sam muttered.

"You're the least selfish person I know. You're living like this because you would do anything for your brother. Your mom would have gone to the assembly whether you asked her to or not. She loved you," Jack said.

Sam's phone rang. She silenced it with a glance at Jimmy, hoping the sound wouldn't wake him up. He was still snoring. Sam listened to the message and swore.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked.

Sam sighed. "That was my boss. He wants me to come in to work. Someone called in sick."

"That's good, right? You need the money," Jack pointed out.

"Yeah, but I told Seth I'd go to his game," Sam said.

"He'll be fine. Brooke will be there for him," Jack said.

Sam hesitated. She knew Jack was right. As much as she wanted to be there for Seth, she was dreading seeing Brooke and Haley. She had a feeling they would use the game to interrogate her. And, she did need the money.

Brooke woke up contentedly in Julian's arms. She managed to shift out from under his grip without waking him up. She went out to the kitchen to start breakfast, but Seth had already beaten her to it.

Brooke removed the chocolate syrup from Seth's hands. "Hey, I was using that," Seth protested.

"I know. I also know what happened last time you ate chocolate syrup for breakfast," Brooke said.

"What happened?" Seth asked.

"You didn't feel good, remember?" Brooke reminded him.

"Oh yeah," Seth said. He reached for the bowl of cereal he'd already poured, but Brooke stopped him.

"I don't think so. Why don't you go watch cartoons, and I'll make breakfast?" Brooke said.

Seth sat down on the couch and started watching the Disney channel. A little while later Brooke called him to the breakfast bar and set a plate in front of him.

Julian woke up a little while later and found Brooke and Seth eating breakfast. He stole a piece of bacon off of Seth's plate.

"I saw that," Seth commented.

"Didn't your mom ever tell you it's nice to share?" Julian said with a smirk.

"I'll share, but only because I love you," Seth said.

Seth had never said those words to Julian before. Julian's eyes widened, but he grinned. "I love you, too."

"Do you love Brooke?" Seth asked.

Brooke choked on her coffee. "Seth, your love is different."

Julian smirked. He leaned down and whispered in Seth's ear. "I'm falling in love with Brooke, but don't tell her. I'm going to tell her on our date."

Seth grinned and nodded.

"What are you whispering about?" Brooke asked suspiciously.

"It's a guy thing," Julian replied.

"Yeah, Brooke. It's a guy thing," Seth echoed.

Brooke rolled her eyes. "You need to go get ready for your game. I washed your uniform. It's in the bottom drawer of your dresser."

Seth hopped down from the stool and went into his room to change. Julian sat down in his seat and polished off what was left of his breakfast. "Are you excited to see Sam?"

"I don't know. It's hard to see her when I know she's just going to leave after the game," Brooke replied.

"Just think how hard it would be if you knew you weren't going to see her at all," Julian said.

Brooke nodded. "That would be worse. At least I can make sure she's OK."

"You're really worried about her, aren't you?" Julian asked, his voice laced with concern.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll ever stop worrying about her. She's my daughter," Brooke said.

"It's more than that, though, isn't it?" Julian prodded. He sensed something more was bothering Brooke.

"I don't know. I can't tell if I'm just seeing what I want to see because I want Sam to come home, or if what I'm seeing is real. I'm seeing so many warning signs that something is wrong. Sam lied about Seth having a different father. She left without even saying goodbye to Seth. She was distant when she came over to see Seth, and she just left even though Seth asked her to stay," Brooke explained.

"If something's wrong, she'll come to you. She knows she can come to you for anything," Julian said.

Seth came out in his uniform. "Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah," Brooke replied with a smile.

Nathan and Haley were already sitting in the bleachers when they got to the basketball court. Brooke and Julian joined her. Sam still hadn't arrived when the game started.

Seth looked up into the stands. He instantly spotted Brooke and Julian, but he didn't see Sam. His face fell.

"Where is she?" Brooke said, her voice laced with concern.

Julian reached for her hand. "She'll be here. She told Seth she'd come."

"Sam?" Haley hazarded a guess.

Brooke nodded. "She should be here. I'm gonna call her."

Haley hesitated. She'd been planning on telling Brooke that Sam wasn't doing as well in class. She didn't know if she should wait until Sam arrived.

Brooke called Sam's cell five times and each time it went to voicemail. She was starting to get really worried. "Why isn't she answering her cell?" She cried out.

Haley frowned. "Brooke, there's something you should know. Sam hasn't been doing as well in class."

Brooke stared at Haley with raised eyebrows. She'd been expecting something more serious than a bad grade. "Is that all?"

"Yes. No. I don't know how to explain it. It's just…she's been distant," Haley said.

The diner was especially busy that afternoon. Sam didn't get to take a break until almost three. She retrieved her phone from her purse. She had nine missed calls from Brooke. She should have called to tell Brooke she wasn't going to the game. She'd gotten used to Jimmy not caring where she was or what she was doing, and she'd almost forgotten that Brooke did care. She braced herself for screaming as she dialed the familiar number.

"Sam, thank goodness! Are you OK?" Brooke's voice dripped with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam said quickly.

"OK, where are you?" Brooke asked.

"I'm sorry I missed the game," Sam said instead of answering the question.

"Where are you, Samantha?" Brooke demanded.

Sam glanced around the diner. She couldn't tell Brooke where she was. She needed a believable excuse, and she needed one now. "I was hanging out with my dad, and I lost track of time. I'm really sorry."

Brooke took a deep breath. As her worry faded, it was replaced with anger. She'd been worried sick. She was about to start calling hospitals. Seth was really upset. "Why didn't you answer your cell phone?"

"I didn't have it with me," Sam said truthfully.

"You owe your brother an apology," Brooke said. Her tone held disappointment.

"I know. I'll make it up to him," Sam promised.

"Oh, I know you will. Can you babysit sometime this week? You can make it up to him then," Brooke said.

Sam sighed. She couldn't babysit. She was working every night. "Brooke, I'm really busy this week."

"You're busy every night this week?" Brooke asked skeptically.

"I have a lot of homework," Sam said.

"You can do homework here, Sam," Brooke pointed out.

Sam had almost forgotten how stubborn Brooke could be; she knew she wasn't going to get out of babysitting. She grabbed the schedule. She was working for Ann today so maybe Ann would take one of her shifts. "OK, I can babysit on Monday."

"Be here at seven," Brooke said.

"OK. Brooke, I'm _really_ sorry I missed the game," Sam said.

Brooke sensed the desperation in Sam's voice. "I'm not angry. I was just really worried."

"Is Sam OK?" Julian asked.

"Yeah. She was hanging out with her dad, and she lost track of time. She didn't have her cell phone," Brooke said.

"But you're still worried?" Julian said knowingly.

Brooke nodded. "I hate not being able to see for myself that she's OK."

Julian pulled Brooke in for a hug and rubbed her back comfortingly. Brooke kissed him.

"You kiss each other a lot."

Julian and Brooke broke apart when they heard Seth's voice. Julian grinned, but Brooke was blushing a little.

"I talked to Sam," Brooke said. Seth looked at Brooke with a stony expression. "She's sorry she missed your game. She's going to babysit on Monday night."

"I don't want her to babysit," Seth said with a hint of anger.

"Your mom and I can't go on a date unless Sam babysits. Help a brother out," Julian said with a grin.

"Fine," Seth muttered.

Sam felt like shit by the time her shift ended. She was physically and emotionally exhausted. She felt like she was starting to get sick. She hadn't slept well in nearly a week. She felt absolutely terrible about worrying Brooke and missing Seth's game.

**Thanks for all the reviews! I hope this chapter wasn't too disappointing. I know people were looking forward to Brooke seeing Sam at the game, which clearly didn't happen. I always planned for it to unfold this way, though, because it's setting up the next chapter. The next chapter will be Monday and it will have some Brooke/Sam and some Peyton/Sam :)**


	22. Jumper

**Thanks for the reviews! :) Thanks for the suggestion as well, but I already know where I'm going with this. I have the next few chapters planned out, and I know how Brooke will find out what's been going on. **

Monday

Julian and Seth were sitting on the couch playing video games. Brooke had been in the bathroom for nearly an hour getting ready for their date.

"What's Brooke doing in there?" Seth asked. His face was scrunched up in confusion. He didn't understand how anyone could spend that much time in the bathroom.

"She's getting ready for our date," Julian explained.

Seth's face contorted even more with the unsatisfactory explanation. "But it's nighttime. She got ready this morning."

"Yeah, but she's fixing herself up so she'll look even prettier tonight," Julian tried again.

"She always looks pretty," Seth said in a matter of fact tone.

"No argument here," Julian said with a grin.

Brooke finally emerged. She was wearing a red dress that clung to her curves in all the right places and red heels. A gold necklace instantly drew Julian's attention to her cleavage.

Seth looked at Brook and then looked back to Julian. "She looks the same as she always does." Brooke looked mildly insulted at Seth's comment.

"He just said you always look pretty," Julian said quickly. "So that's a compliment."

"Hmm…it's kind of hard to tell. No wonder you don't have a girlfriend," Brooke teased the kid.

Sam waited until the last minute to knock on Brooke's door. If Brooke and Julian needed to leave at seven, and Sam arrived at seven, Brooke wouldn't be able to talk to Sam.

"I'll get it," Brooke said. It had been a week since she'd last seen the teen, and she missed Sam terribly. She answered the door with a smile on her face, but it quickly faded. Sam had lost weight. The teen hadn't had any extra weight to loose. She now looked almost sickly.

"Are you just going to stand here staring at me or are you going to invite me in?" Sam said sarcastically with a smirk. Her voice was hoarse. The difference was slight enough that it went unnoticed by both Julian and Seth, but Brooke instantly noticed it.

"Are you sick?" Brooke asked, her voice laced with concern.

Sam shrugged. "I feel like I'm getting a cold. Don't worry. I've been washing my hands a lot. I won't get Seth sick."

Brooke instinctively felt Sam's forehead. "You're warm." She looked back at Julian. "Maybe we should stay home."

Sam rolled her eyes. "It's just a cold. It's not like I'm having a deadly allergic reaction. You should go."

"You're feeling well enough to be smart," Brooke commented with a smile.

Sam noticed Seth sitting on the couch with his arms crossed and frowned. Normally he would have pounced on her the minute she stepped foot in the house. "Seth, aren't you going to come give me a hug?"

"No," Seth sad in an unmistakably angry tone.

Sam's eyes filled with hurt. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked.

Seth glared at his sister. He'd never once looked at her like that before. "You said you'd come to my game, but you didn't."

Sam sighed. She'd known her absence would disappoint Seth, but she hadn't expected anger. She went over to the couch and sat down beside him. She tried to look into his eyes, but he looked away. "I'm really sorry," Sam said.

"You lied," Seth said. His voice held a surprising amount of anger.

Sam's face fell. "I didn't mean to lie. I feel terrible."

Brooke sat down on the other side of Seth. "Seth, everyone makes mistakes. I'm proud of Sam for admitting that she was wrong. I know how much Sam means to you. Do you think you can forgive her?"

Seth shook his head defiantly.

"Do you remember when you got into that fight at school?" Brooke asked.

Seth nodded sheepishly.

"Well, how would you have felt if no one was willing to forgive you?" Brooke asked.

"Not very good," Seth admitted. He looked at Sam the first time since she'd arrived. "I forgive you."

Sam smiled gratefully at Brooke before focusing on Seth. "That's good because we wouldn't have nearly as much fun tonight if you were mad at me the whole time. I've missed you."

"I missed you, too," Seth said as he climbed into Sam's lap.

"OK. We're going to go. Call me if you need anything," Brooke said.

"I think I can handle it," Sam said with a smirk.

As soon as Brooke and Julian left, Sam raided the fridge. She put a frozen pizza in for dinner and started snacking on a bag of chips in the meantime. Sunday was the first day she hadn't worked. While it was nice to have a break, it also meant she didn't have anything to eat. She'd been getting used to eating less every day, but it wasn't the same as eating absolutely nothing. She'd never known her stomach could feel so empty.

"Do you like Julian?" Sam asked.

Seth nodded. "He's nice."

Sam smiled. She'd liked Julian ever since he cleared her name when she took the fall for Jack for shoplifting. "Does he spend the night?"

"Yeah. And guess what?" Seth said with a smile.

"What?" Sam asked.

"He's going to tell Brooke he loves her tonight!" Seth said, excitement evident on his face.

"How do you know?" Sam asked.

"He told me. He tells me everything. We're like really close," Seth said proudly.

Julian took Brooke to dinner at a nice restaurant.

"How did Sam look to you?" Brooke asked.

"Like a teenage girl," Julian replied.

Brooke rolled her eyes. "Did it look like she'd lost weight?"

"I don't know. She's always been skinny," Julian said.

"There's a difference between skinny and waif-like," Brooke muttered.

"We should let Seth make breakfast for her. That'll fatten her up," Julian joked.

After dinner, Julian took Brooke to the river court. With Nathan and Haley's help, he'd borrowed a projector and a screen from the high school and set it up at the river court, making their very own drive-in movie theater. He pulled his rental car, a silver convertible, up and started the movie.

"The Breakfast Club. This is one of my favorite movies," Brooke said with a smile.

"I know," Julian said with a smirk.

"How did you know?" Brooke asked.

"A little bird whispered in my ear," Julian said.

"Haley," Brooke said knowingly.

Julian grinned. "Let me guess. You're the priss?"

Brooke looked mildly offended.

"You _did _spend over an hour getting ready," Julian said with a laugh.

"Even though apparently I look the same as I always do," Brooke retorted.

"You always look good. You'd probably look good if you wore a burlap sack," Julian said.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "You do know I'm a fashion designer, right?"

"I know you better than you think," Julian said with a smirk.

"You know all my dark secrets?" Brooke said with a hint of sarcasm.

"You're a fabulous fashion designer and a smart, successful businesswoman, but that doesn't make you happy. You're a good friend and a great mom. You're the most selfless person I know. You would do anything for the people you love because they mean more to you than anything else, including your company. I know you, Brooke Davis, and I love you," Julian said.

Brooke stared at Julian with wide eyes. He didn't know her well enough to know how much those three words scared her. She'd learned how much love could hurt at the hands of Lucas Scott, and she never wanted to hurt that badly again. "Julian, we haven't been together that long." She saw a flicker of pain in Julian's eyes. Knowing she'd hurt him hurt her.

"I know how long we've been together. It doesn't matter. I _know_ you," Julian insisted. "And I love you."

"Julian, I…really like you," Brooke said.

When Brooke and Julian got home, Sam and Seth were sound asleep on the couch. Seth was cuddled up to Sam, and the teen's arms were wrapped around his stomach protectively. The scene made Brooke's heart melt.

Brooke touched Sam's shoulder gently. Sam's eyes fluttered open.

"I'll take Seth to bed," Julian said in a hushed tone. Sam nodded drowsily and moved aside to Julian could pick Seth up.

"He's really good with Seth," Sam commented.

"Yeah," Brooke agreed with a smile. She felt Sam's forehead. The teen was still warm. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Sam replied.

"I'll drive you to your dad's," Brooke said. She couldn't bring herself to call Sam's dad's house Sam's home, not when she wanted Sam to come home to her house.

"I can walk," Sam said quickly. She didn't want Brooke to see where she was living.

"You absolutely are not walking home alone at night," Brooke said firmly.

Sam sighed. She knew it was no use arguing. "OK."

They got in the car. Ironically, both of them wanted the same thing, and that was for Sam to stay.

"Did Julian tell you he loved you?" Sam asked.

Brooke's eyes widened. She raised her eyebrows. "How did you know?"

"He told Seth he was going to. Seth can't keep a secret," Sam said with a grin.

"He kept it from me," Brooke muttered.

"I can't believe Julian told you he loved you, and you'd rather drive me home than show him how much you love him," Sam commented.

"Sam!" Brooke exclaimed. She couldn't believe Sam said that.

"What? I know he's been spending the night. Seth ratted you out," Sam said with a smirk.

Brooke pulled over in front of Jimmy's apartment building. The proximity to X's house didn't escape her. She raised her eyebrows. "I am dropping you off at your dad's, not X's, right?"

"I'm not the one who spends every night with her boyfriend," Sam retorted.

"I don't know why I missed you," Brooke teased.

"I missed you, too," Sam said. She hugged Brooke before she got out of the car. She felt so safe in Brooke's arms. She wished she could stay there forever.

Sam walked up to Jimmy's apartment. She had no intention of actually going in because she knew that she would more than likely find Jimmy with some cheap slut, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Brooke waiting to make sure she got in OK. She sighed and opened the door.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized the apartment was empty. The relief was short-lived, however, because Jimmy and a fake blonde stumbled in within an hour. In their drunken haze, they didn't even seem to notice Sam. They left a path of destruction in the path to the bed, running into things and discarding clothing items. Sam made a hasty exit before they reached the bed.

Sam called Jack, but he didn't answer. He must have gone to bed already. Not wanting to be alone, she went to visit her mom's grave. She was still alone, but she felt closer to her mom somehow. She'd been talking to her mom a lot since she'd moved out of Brooke's house.

"Everything's so messed up. All I'm trying to do is be there for Seth, and I failed. I wasn't there for him at his game. Jimmy said I'm just like you, but I'm not. You were always there for us. I think I'm more like Jimmy and that scares me. I hate him. I hate him so much! He took everything from me!" Sam cried out.

Sam didn't know how long she'd been standing there staring at her mother's grave waiting for an epiphany when a voice startled her.

"Sam?"

Sam turned around and saw Peyton staring at her.

"Peyton? What are you doing here?" Sam said. She was curious as to the answer. The cemetery was usually empty at this hour. She hadn't expected to see anyone, especially not someone she knew.

"Visiting my mom," Peyton replied. She and Lucas were fighting about the pregnancy. He didn't want to have the baby if he could lose her. She'd really needed to talk to her mom. "Isn't it a little late for you to be out at a cemetery?"

Sam raised her eyebrows and smirked a little. "Apparently not since you're here, too."

"I'm not fourteen," Peyton pointed out.

"I didn't know there was an legal age for late night cemetery visits," Sam said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Does your dad know you're here?" Peyton asked.

"Yeah, but I gotta go. He'll worry if I miss curfew," Sam said. She smiled a little at the lie. It was so ridiculous it was almost funny.

"I'll give you a ride," Peyton said.

Sam shook her head. "I can walk."

"No way. Brooke would kill me if I let you walk home alone at night," Peyton said.

Sam briefly considered asking Peyton not to tell Brooke she'd been at the cemetery in the middle of the night, but she already knew the answer would be no. Asking would make the visit even more suspicious.

"Where's your head at, Sam?" Peyton asked.

"All over the place," Sam said truthfully.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Peyton asked.

"Not really," Sam replied.

"You know, I visit my mom all the time. I believe she can hear me. The only problem is that she can't talk back. That's why I talk to Brooke and Lucas, too," Peyton said.

"Sometimes it's nice to have someone to listen, but not ask questions or tell you what to do," Sam said.

"Sometimes," Peyton agreed.

When Brooke got home from dropping Sam off, Julian was already asleep. She slipped into bed beside him, careful not to wake him up. She laid her head back on the pillow and looked at Julian. She spoke the words she was too scared to say to him when he was awake. "I love you."

The movement of the bed when Brooke got in and the sound of her raspy voice caused Julian to stir. His eyes blinked open. He wondered if he was dreaming or if Brooke had really just said she loved him.

"Julian!" Brooke yelled. She sat up and hit him with her pillow. The last thing she'd wanted was for him to hear her.

Julian sat up as well, using his arms to protect himself from blow after blow. "What's going on?"

"Why aren't you asleep?" Brooke demanded.

"Because you woke me up," Julian said. Brooke glared at him. Julian smirked. "But it's OK. I forgive you." He debated whether he should tell her he had in fact heard her or let her wonder. He decided it would be more fun to let her agonize over it.


	23. Caught by the River

**Thanks for the reviews! :) It took me a little longer than usual to write this. It starts with Tuesday and then skips to Friday. It's setting up the next chapter, which is when a lot of stuff is going to go down. School is really busy right now. I'll try to get the next chapter up tomorrow.**

Tuesday

As soon as the bell rang signaling the end of Haley's class, Sam grabbed her backpack and made a dash for the door. She was one of the first students out the door, where she practically ran into Brooke.

Sam stared at Brooke with a shocked expression. "Brooke, what are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you, too," Brooke said with a hint of sarcasm. "I thought I'd give you a ride home, you know, kind of like I did last night even though apparently you didn't stay there."

Sam sighed. She'd known Peyton would tell Brooke about their late night encounter at the cemetery, and she'd come up with answers to the questions she anticipated. She hadn't expected Brooke to show up at school, though. She followed Brooke to the car and got in.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "So are you going to tell me what you were doing in the cemetery in the middle of the night?"

"Visiting my mom," Sam replied.

"OK. And you don't think there's a better time to visit your mom than MIDNIGHT on a school night?" Brooke asked in a disapproving tone.

"Apparently I'm not the only one," Sam retorted.

"First of all, Peyton isn't fourteen years old. Second, she's not sick. You sound worse today, Sam. It was cold outside last night. You had no business walking all over the place when you had a fever," Brooke scolded.

"Look, I couldn't sleep, and I just needed to talk to my mom. I felt terrible about missing Seth's game. He's never been that mad at me before. I feel a little like I failed him," Sam said. It was a half-truth, and she knew Brooke would find it believable as a reason for her being in the cemetery.

"Seth's not mad at you anymore. You'll have plenty of opportunities to make it up to him. You're a great sister," Brooke said gently.

"You're a great mom," Sam said with a smile.

Sam's words made Brooke overflow with happiness, her concern for the teen temporarily forgotten. "Thanks, Sam."

"Thanks for the ride." Sam gave Brooke a quick hug. Before she could pull away, Brooke's hand went to Sam's forehead.

"You're still warm. Have you gone to the doctor?" Brooke said, her voice laced with concern.

"Overreact much? Last time I checked, you don't need to go to the doctor for the cold," Sam said with a smirk.

"No, but you do need to get rest instead of staying out all night in the cemetery," Brooke said with raised eyebrows.

"That's the last time I go to the cemetery in the middle of the night," Sam said.

"Thank you. And Sam, if you want to talk to someone, you know you can always come to me," Brooke said.

Friday

Sam didn't visit the cemetery again that week. She didn't want to risk running into Peyton again. She did, however, spend most of her nights in the park with Jack. She didn't know if lack of sleep or being out in the cold was the cause, but she was definitely getting worse. She didn't know what her temperature was, but she knew she had a fever because she alternated between being so cold she was shivering and burning up. She'd also developed a cough.

Even though it was lunch, neither Sam nor Jack was eating. They were listening to Sam's iPod and talking.

Jack took the ear bud out of his ear and handed it to Sam. "I don't want to share with you if you're sick."

Sam rolled her eyes. "If I'm sick, you're going to get sick, too, you idiot. We've been sleeping together almost every night."

"You sound awful," Jack said.

"Whatever," Sam retorted.

A few tables over, Haley and Nathan were eating their lunches. Nathan was talking about the basketball team for several minutes before he realized Haley wasn't paying attention. He waved a hand in front of her face. "What are you looking at?"

"Sorry. I just saw Sam. Brooke is really worried about her," Haley said.

Haley was watching Sam intently. The teen was sitting with Jack a few tables over. Sam had yet to notice Haley so she didn't have her guard up. Sam had been especially guarded in class.

The bell rang and Sam and Jack stood up. As Sam rose, a wave of nausea hit her. Just as suddenly as it came, it passed. Then she felt as though she couldn't breathe. She didn't know how to describe how she felt, but she knew something was wrong. She reached out to touch Jack's shoulder. By the time he turned toward her, her eyes were closed and her body was falling. Jack instinctively caught her before she hit the ground and lowered her gently.

"Nathan," Haley said sharply. He followed her gaze to Sam's passed out body lying lifelessly on the ground. They left the remnants of their lunches forgotten and rushed over.

Haley knew Sam was sick. She felt Sam's forehead. "She's burning up."

"She's sick," Jack said.

Sam heard their voices, but they sounded far away. Everything was black. She panicked and tried to sit up, but a gentle hand pushed her back down.

"Don't get up yet," Haley said.

Slowly the world came into focus again. "I'm fine. I can get up," Sam said.

Haley narrowed her eyes and looked at the teen in disbelief. "You're not fine. You passed out. You're burning up."

"I have a cold," Sam said.

"Yeah, no kidding," Haley said with a hint of sarcasm. "You've been sick all week. Have you been to the doctor? Because I really don't think this is just a cold."

"I have an appointment on Monday," Sam lied.

"OK. Well, I'm taking you to the nurse's office," Haley said. She turned to Jack. "Jack, you can go to class now."

Haley and Nathan helped Sam to her feet. Haley put her arm around Sam just in case she felt faint again and led the teen to the nurse's office.

The nurse jammed a thermometer in Sam's mouth. She removed it after a minute and looked at the display. "Your temperature is one hundred and two degrees. You shouldn't be in school. You need to call your parents to come get you."

Sam sighed. The last thing she wanted to do was call Jimmy, but she knew she didn't have a choice. She dialed his number. She hoped he wouldn't answer, but she wasn't that lucky.

Sam felt Haley's gaze on her and knew every word would be reported back to Brooke. Her end of the conversation had to leave Haley with the impression that Jimmy was a good dad. "Dad, I-"

Jimmy snickered. "You haven't called me Dad since you were nine."

Of course she hadn't called him Dad. He'd done nothing to earn the title. Sam bit her tongue to refrain from the sarcastic comeback on the tip of her tongue. "I'm not feeling so good. I'm in the nurse's office. I need you to come pick me up from school." She hoped he would sense the desperation in her voice.

"My dad's coming," Sam told the nurse and Haley. She focused on Haley. "You don't have to stay. I'm sure you have better things to do."

"I don't have class right now so I'm all yours," Haley said.

Sam was a bundle of nerves as they waited for Jimmy to arrive. She hoped he wouldn't say or do anything that would raise a red flag for Haley.

About twenty minutes later, Jimmy walked into the nurse's office. Sam spoke up quickly, hoping to avert a potential crisis. "Dad, this is Haley, one of my teachers and one of Brooke's best friends." She looked into his eyes as she spoke, silently pleading with him to understand the meaning behind her words.

Haley frowned as she took in Jimmy's appearance. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans with holes in them. He was young, but drinking and chain-smoking had aged him prematurely. She recognized the distinct stench of cigarette smoke on him.

"It's nice to meet you," Jimmy said.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Haley said politely.

Jimmy looked at Sam. Haley searched his facial expression for any sign of concern, but she saw none. His eyes were cold as he focused on his daughter. "You ready?"

Sam nodded and stood up.

"Sam is really sick. Her temperature is one hundred and two. She passed out," Haley said. She knew she would be in panic mode if someone told her Jamie had passed out. Jimmy seemed cool as a cucumber.

"Let's go," Jimmy said.

Haley fought the sudden instinct to stop him from walking out the door with Sam. She knew she couldn't stop him even though every fiber of her being was screaming that something was wrong. He was Sam's father. But what kind of father was this detached? Dan hadn't been a shining example of a good parent, and even he would have been concerned if Nathan passed out.

Haley wasted no time in calling Brooke.

"Hey Tutor Mom," Brooke said cheerfully.

"Hey Tigger," Haley said less enthusiastically. "Sam's really sick."

"She's still sick? She's been sick for a whole week now." Even over the phone, concern was evident in Brooke's voice.

Haley couldn't help compare Brooke's reaction to Jimmy's reaction. Brooke's maternal instincts and love for Sam were unmistakable. If Jimmy loved Sam, he certainly didn't wear his heart on his sleeve.

"Brooke, she passed out," Haley said.

"Oh my gosh! Is she OK?" Brooke asked.

"Well, I took her to the nurse's office. Her dad came to pick her up," Haley said.

"Good," Brooke said in a hesitant tone.

"Do you like her dad?" Haley asked.

"I don't know him," Brooke replied. She didn't need to know him to know she didn't like him because he'd taken Sam away from her, but she wouldn't admit that. She knew that would sound bad.

"It was really weird. He wasn't worried about Sam," Haley said.

"What do you mean?" Brooke asked.

"I don't know. It's just…he was more interested in getting out of here than in making sure Sam was OK," Haley explained.

Jimmy dropped Sam off at his apartment on his way back to work. She hadn't even walked in the door when Brooke called her.

"Hey. Are you OK?" Brooke's voice was dripping with concern.

"I'm fine, Brooke. I'm going to take some medicine and go to sleep," Sam said.

"Do you need anything?" Brooke asked.

Sam smiled. She knew if she said yes, Brooke would go out of her way to get whatever it was that Sam needed. It was nice to know even though Sam couldn't say yes. "No, but thanks for asking. Tell Seth I said hi."

"Feel better, Honey," Brooke said before hanging up.

Sam took two aspirin to bring her fever down. She set the alarm on her cell phone for four o'clock before lying down on the couch to take a nap. The nap did wonders for her. She woke up feeling better rested than she had in weeks.

Brooke and Julian tucked Seth into bed. "Goodnight, Buddy."

"Goodnight, Brooke. Julian," Seth murmured sleepily.

Brooke turned the lights off and shut the door behind her. They went into her room.

"He loves you. I love seeing you with him. You're so good to him," Brooke said with a smile.

Julian smiled at her use of the word love. He hadn't pushed her since their date night, but he was wondering when she'd finally get the guts to tell him she loved him when she didn't think he was sleeping. "He's a good kid."

"Would you take him for a while tomorrow?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah," Julian replied. "Why?"

"Well, Sam's been sick all week. She passed out in school yesterday," Brooke said.

"Is she OK?" Julian asked, his voice laced with concern.

Brooke smiled. He genuinely liked both Sam and Seth. She knew she'd done well with him. "I don't know. Haley took her to the nurse. She called her dad to pick her up. Haley said he wasn't worried about Sam."

Julian's forehead wrinkled in confusion. He wasn't even Sam's father, and he'd instantly been overcome with worry when Brooke told him she'd passed out. "What?" He asked.

"It's weird. I've been trying not to overreact. I don't want Sam to think I'm jealous that she's spending time with her dad," Brooke said.

"But you are a little?" Julian asked knowingly.

"Yeah. It feels a little like she likes him better than me. She has a right to get to know him, so I let her leave, but I have to make sure she's OK. At first I was the only one who thought something was wrong. Now Haley thinks so, too," Brooke said.

"What are you going to do?" Julian asked.

"I'm going to go see her tomorrow. I want to meet her dad and make sure everything is OK," Brooke said.

"Are you sure you want to go alone? Haley can take Seth, so I can go with you," Julian suggested.

"No. I think I need to go alone. Sam and I need to talk," Brooke said. She figured the teen would be more likely to open up if it was just the two of them. She wasn't going to leave Sam until she was one hundred percent confident that Sam was safe with her dad.

"You could always take her chicken soup. That way you can say you just want to see how she's doing. If everything's OK, she won't be mad that you stopped by to give her dad the Spanish Inquisition," Julian suggested.

"Smart and sexy," Brooke said with a smile.

Julian grinned and kissed Brooke. " Let's see if I can make you forget about all of your worries," he murmured. He began undressing her slowly, kissing a trail down her body as he did.

Brooke lay contentedly in Julian's arms after. The smile on her face told him he'd succeeded in making her forget about Sam for the time being.

When Sam's shift at the diner ended, her boss gave her an envelope containing her first paycheck. Sam felt a sense of pride and accomplishment at having earned it, but the feeling was fleeting. She would be giving every cent to Jimmy the next day.

Jack was waiting for her in his usual booth. He wasted no time digging into the white paper bag containing a cheeseburger that would be both of their dinner. "What's that?" He asked with his mouth full.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, rude boy," Sam said. "It's my paycheck."

"Are you rich now?" Jack asked.

"Hardly," Sam said with a hint of bitterness.

"Are you giving him everything?" Jack asked with his mouth open in horror.

"Yeah. He's taking everything. Absolutely everything," Sam said. She meant more than just the money.

"Not everything. You're smart and strong and kind and selfless. He can't take any of that away from you," Jack said.

"You don't suck at this boyfriend thing," Sam commented.

"You kind of suck at this girlfriend thing. It'd be nice to be able to actually kiss my girlfriend without getting sick," Jack teased.

Sam shoved Jack playfully. "Jerk. Just for that, I'm going to kiss you and make sure you get sick."

"It might be worth it," Jack said.

"No, it wouldn't be. If you pass out at school, Haley will probably think we're on drugs or something," Sam said with a smirk.

"Do you think you passed out because you're sick?" Jack asked.

"I've had colds before and I've never passed out. I think it had more to do with not eating enough and being exhausted. I felt much better after I took a nap," Sam replied.


	24. I Will Show You Love

Saturday

"What are you going to do with Seth today?" Brooke asked.

"I thought I'd take him to the arcade," Julian replied.

"He'll like that," Brooke said with a smile.

"Are you talking about me?" Seth said. He'd just emerged from his bedroom. He was still wearing pajamas and his hair was in disarray from sleep.

"Yeah. What do you say to spending the day with Julian?" Brooke asked.

Seth lit up. "That would be cool."

"Good. Go get dressed. We're all going to go out for breakfast and then you're going to hang out with Julian," Brooke said.

They went to the pancake house. It was packed with families. Julian, Brooke and Seth looked like any other family.

"Baker, party of three," the hostess called out after about a fifteen minute wait. They rose from the bench they'd been waiting on and followed the waitress to their table.

The waitress came to take their orders a few minutes later. "Hi. I'm Mary. I'll be taking care of you this morning. What can I get you guys?"

Seth opened his mouth to speak first, but Julian stopped him. "Ladies first, Buddy."

"I'll have a coffee and a croissant," Brooke said.

"Can I have chocolate chip pancakes and chocolate milk please?" Seth asked.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. She smirked at Julian. "He's so going to have a sugar high. Have fun."

The waitress laughed as she jotted the order down.

"I'll have pancakes and an orange juice," Julian said.

When the waitress brought their order, Seth drowned his pancakes in syrup until Brooke took the syrup away from him.

"What are you going to do all day?" Seth asked Brooke.

"I don't know," Brooke lied. She didn't want to tell him she was going to see Sam. She knew he'd want to go, too.

"You should go shopping," Seth suggested.

"That's one of my favorite things to do," Brooke said with a smile. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why do you want me to go shopping?"

"I know," Seth said emphatically, "And I don't like going with you, so you should go while I'm with Julian."

Brooke pretended to be hurt. "Even though I bought you candy?"

"You buy me candy even when we don't go shopping," Seth pointed out. "You're going to have to do better than that. I'd go shopping if you got me a puppy."

Julian was trying not to laugh.

Brooke smirked. "Oh yeah? Maybe I just won't buy you candy unless we go shopping from now on."

"No!" Seth cried out.

The waitress brought the bill and set it down on their table.

"I got this," Julian said. He reached into his wallet and pulled out enough money to cover their breakfast. He realized he was running low on cash. "I need to stop by the ATM before you drop us off at the arcade."

"I have money," Brooke said.

"I'm the guy. Last time I checked, I was supposed to pay," Julian said.

Brooke rolled her eyes. "I didn't know it was the fifties."

"I like the fifties. You should rock a poodle skirt," Julian teased.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "A poodle skirt? Really?"

"I see Sam!" Seth exclaimed, pointing out the window when Brooke was in the process of parallel parking her car in front of the bank.

"No, Buddy. You're not going to see Sam today. She's not feeling so good," Brooke said.

"Maybe she's feeling better. Look, she's right there," Seth insisted.

Brooke followed Seth's gaze. Sure enough, Sam and a man Brooke assumed was her father were walking toward the bank. Why wasn't Sam at home in bed?

Seth ran toward Sam before Brooke could stop him. She and Julian hurried after him.

"Sam!" Seth yelled.

Sam froze in horror when she heard her brother's voice. She felt a solid form collide with her legs and looked down at Seth. That's when she knew this wasn't a bad dream. This was really happening. She had to have the worst luck of anyone on the planet. She was doing everything she could to make sure Jimmy stayed far away from Seth, and Seth ran into them while they were cashing her check. This was the worst possible timing. Sam wasn't surprised when Brooke and Julian materialized in front of her as well.

Seth looked up at Jimmy curiously. "Hi. I'm Seth. Who are you?"

"You don't know him," Sam said quickly.

"I know. That's why I asked who he is," Seth explained. He was little, but he wasn't stupid. As he wondered why his sister would be with an older man he'd never met, only one reason came to mind. "Are you my dad?"

Sam's eyes widened in shock and horror. She felt as though she were watching a train wreck. She knew she was powerless to stop the current situation from spiraling out of control, but she was going to do everything she could to minimize the damage. She shot Jimmy a warning look. "If you don't hold up your end of the deal, I won't hold up mine." She held up the check they were about to cash for emphasis.

Brooke had noticed that Sam seemed paralyzed with fear when she saw Seth. Sam's reaction told her more than any words could have. It confirmed Brooke's suspicions that Jimmy wasn't a good dad. If he were a good dad, Sam would want him to be there for Seth.

"What deal?" Brooke asked. To Brooke's annoyance, both Sam and Jimmy ignored her completely.

"Are you my dad?" Seth asked, a little louder this time. He wasn't used to being ignored. He was used to being the center of attention.

Sam tore her gaze from her dad and looked at Brooke. "Can you get him out of here?" She asked with a hint of desperation.

Brooke glanced at Julian. "Can you take him?"

Julian scooped Seth up despite his protests. He started walking in the direction of the arcade, keeping an eye out for an ATM since they'd never actually made it into the bank.

"What deal?" Brooke asked again.

"It's really none of your business," Sam said. She saw a flicker of pain in Brooke's eyes and felt even worse than she already did. She didn't want to hurt Brooke, but she also couldn't answer Brooke's question.

"It is absolutely my business if it has anything to do with you or Seth," Brooke said firmly. Her gaze shifted from Sam to the check in Sam's hands. "What is that?"

"You don't need to know what it is," Sam said.

Brooke tore the check from Sam's hands. Her forehead wrinkled in confusion as she read it. The check was made out to Sam for $449.37. Why would Sam have a check for that much money? "Sam?"

Sam reached for the check, but Brooke held it out of reach. Sam sighed. "Please don't do this."

"Tell me what's going on." Brooke's tone was firm, but there was an underlying desperation.

"You're just going to make everything worse," Sam muttered.

Brooke's eyes filled with pain. "How can you say that? I only want what's best for you, Sam."

"I'm doing what's best for Seth," Sam said.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "And what is that?"

"Look, it's best for Seth to be with you, OK?" Sam said.

"OK. Now tell me what's going on with you," Brooke said through gritted teeth. She felt like they'd been talking in circles. Sam was avoiding answering her questions at all costs. She didn't want to lose her temper, but her frustration was boiling to the surface.

"I CAN'T!" Sam cried out.

"You can tell me anything," Brooke said.

"Not this," Sam said quietly. She held her hand out for the check.

Brooke wasn't giving Sam the check until she got answers. "Why do you need this much money? How did you even get this much money?"

"I got a job," Sam replied.

Brooke stared at the teen in disbelief. "You're fourteen years old. You're in school. You must have been working your ass off to make this much money."

"I needed the money," Sam said.

"For what?" Brooke demanded.

"I just needed it! Give me the check!" Sam yelled.

Brooke shook her head. "Unless you tell me what you need the money for, I'm going to deposit it into your savings account."

Tears stung Sam's eyes. She couldn't believe everything was falling apart right in front of her. If Brooke wouldn't give her the check, Sam couldn't hold up her end of the deal. Sam wouldn't be able to protect Seth from Jimmy. "I need it for my dad." Her voice was thick with tears.

"What?" Brooke asked with a hint of anger.

"Look, I told you what it's for. Give me the check. That was the deal, right?" Sam said.

Sam's word choice reminded Brooke of the first unanswered question she'd asked the teen. "OK. Tell me what the deal with your dad is," she said through gritted teeth.

Sam looked at Brooke and knew she was in a no-win situation. No matter what Sam said, Brooke was not going to give her that check. If Sam told the truth, not only would Brooke refuse to give her the check, but she would also make Sam move back in with her. Sam turned to Jimmy. "Let's go. This isn't going to work."

Brooke grabbed Sam's arm. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on."

"Let me go," Sam pleaded, trying to free herself from Brooke's grip.

"No," Brooke replied.

They stared at each other. Sam's watery eyes were pleading with Brooke to let her go, while Brooke's eyes were pleading with Sam to let her in. Neither was willing to give in to the other, so a battle of wills ensued between them. Unfortunately, they were equally stubborn. The staredown lasted for several minutes.

"Please," Sam whispered with a hint of desperation.

Brooke heard the desperation in Sam's voice and pulled the broken teenager into a hug, rubbing her back comfortingly. The tears Sam had been fighting back started rolling down her cheeks. She was so tired. She didn't have the strength to fight anymore.

"Sam, I don't understand. What's wrong? Tell me, and I promise I will help you with whatever it is," Brooke said gently.

"I have to give him the money. He has to stay away from Seth," Sam said thickly.

Intense hatred and rage filled Brooke. If looks could kill, the look she was shooting at Jimmy would have led to his painful demise. "_That _was the deal? That you would give him money, and he would stay away from Seth?" Each word Brooke spoke made her angrier.

Sam nodded. She reached for the check yet again, but Brooke once again moved it out of her reach.

"No," Brooke said with venom in her voice. She shook her head. "You are NOT giving him the money that you worked for. I won't let you."

Jimmy snickered. "You're one to talk. You've been raking it in because of _my_ kids."

"First of all, you don't know anything about me. Second of all, they are _my_ kids, NOT yours," Brooke spat out.

"That's where you're wrong. They're mine. And I can make damn sure you can't adopt them," Jimmy said.

"Oh, really? I don't know any judge in their right mind who would give _you_ two children. I don't know how you think you're going to afford an attorney if you're so desperate you're stealing from a fourteen year old, but you just go ahead and have your lawyer call my lawyer," Brooke shot back. "Come on, Sam. We're going home."

"Please don't. What if you lose? It's not worth it," Sam said.

Brooke looked into Sam's eyes. "Sam, that is NOT going to happen."

The car ride was silent. Both Brooke and Sam were lost in their own thoughts.

Brooke was blaming herself for letting Sam move in with her dad. She'd known something was wrong, and she'd let Sam go. She only knew why Sam moved in with her dad in the first place. She still had no idea how bad the last two weeks had been for the teen. She needed to know, but she didn't know if Sam would tell her. Why didn't Sam talk to her? It killed Brooke that Sam still didn't feel like she could come to her. If Sam had just told her what was going on, none of this would have happened. Brooke was supposed to protect Sam, and she felt like she'd failed.

Sam had so many mixed emotions bubbling to the surface. She felt a sense of relief. She no longer had to carry on the charade. She didn't know how much longer she could have carried it on. She wanted to believe everything would be OK, but she couldn't. Could it really be over? Jimmy was still out there. Sure, Brooke said she wouldn't lose in court, but what if she was wrong? What if Jimmy got to Seth? What if all of this was for nothing?

Brooke finally broke the silence. "Why didn't you talk to me? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd do this. I don't want Seth with Jimmy. We had a deal. He was going to stay away from Seth," Sam muttered.

"You didn't tell me because you were trying to protect Seth?" Brooke said.

"I _was_ protecting Seth!" Sam replied.

"OK, but who was protecting you?" Brooke asked. She knew the answer. She was the one who was supposed to be protecting Sam, and she'd failed. She wished Sam could understand how badly Brooke wanted to protect them. "Do you really think I would ever do anything that would hurt Seth?"

"You didn't mean to, but you just did," Sam said quietly.

Brooke's eyes filled with hurt at the accusation. "Sam?"

"You said you won't lose in court, but you don't know that," Sam explained.

"Yeah, I do. No judge will approve him," Brooke said with certainty. She looked into Sam's eyes. "You shouldn't have to take care of Seth right now. You shouldn't have to take care of yourself right now. That is what I'm here for."

"OK," Sam mumbled.

Brooke didn't know what else to say to Sam to make her believe that she would always take care of them. Sam obviously didn't believe it. If Sam did, she would have come to Brooke in the first place and none of this would have happened. It killed Brooke to know Sam didn't trust her. She decided to move on for now. It would take time to earn Sam's trust. In the meantime, Brooke needed some answers.

"Did your dad…?" Brooke couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. She couldn't stand the thought of him hurting Sam. She didn't need to explain. Sam understood.

"No, he didn't hurt me," Sam replied.

Brooke knew Sam's response wasn't entirely true. Whether Jimmy had laid a hand on Sam or not, he had absolutely hurt her. She'd been juggling school and a job. She'd lost weight. She was really sick. Still, Brooke felt a little relieved that he hadn't physically hurt Sam.

Brooke pulled into a parking space at the hospital.

"You said we were going home," Sam said.

"We are. We're just going here first," Brooke said.

"I have a cold! I don't need to go to the hospital!" Sam protested.

"You passed out. You absolutely need to go to the hospital," Brooke said firmly.

**I wanted to get this up today, but I wasn't completely finished with everything that happens on Saturday, so I'm breaking it into two parts. This is obviously the first part, and the next chapter will be the rest of the day-Julian and Seth at the arcade, Brooke and Sam at the hospital, and then all of them at home. I don't know when it will be ready. I'm busy with school right now, so it might be a little longer than usual. Thanks for the reviews! :) **


	25. Sorry

Saturday

_Brooke pulled into a parking space at the hospital._

_"You said we were going home," Sam said._

_"We are. We're just going here first," Brooke said._

_"I have a cold! I don't need to go to the hospital!" Sam protested._

_"You passed out. You absolutely need to go to the hospital," Brooke said firmly._

"Brooke, I didn't pass out because I'm sick," Sam said.

"Oh, really? When did you get your medical degree?" Brooke asked sarcastically with raised eyebrows.

"I hadn't had enough to eat that day and I was really tired," Sam said.

"How much did you have to eat that day?" Brooke demanded.

"A cheeseburger," Sam said.

Brooke raised her eyebrows. "That's it?"

Sam decided it probably wasn't a good idea to mention that she'd actually only eaten half of a cheeseburger and that it was after she'd passed out, so she stared straight ahead out the window and nodded.

No wonder Sam had lost weight. She wasn't eating. Brooke wanted to scream. She wasn't sure who she was angrier at right now-Jimmy or herself. She'd known deep down that something wasn't right. She should never have let Sam leave.

"That's not the point. I want to make sure this is just a cold," Brooke said. She got out of the car and waited expectantly for Sam to do the same. Sam lingered in the car for several seconds. She only got out when Brooke shot her a warning look.

Brooke filled out the paperwork. There wasn't a long wait. Brooke and Sam were led back to an exam room. Brooke sat down on a chair while Sam sat down on the exam table.

A middle-aged man entered wearing scrubs. "Hi. I'm Dr. Stein." He shook Sam's hand. He glanced down at the form Brooke had filled out earlier. "So you think you have a cold?" Sam nodded. "How long have you had the symptoms?"

"About a week," Sam replied.

"And you passed out yesterday?" Dr. Stein asked.

Sam nodded.

Dr. Stein put a thermometer in Sam's mouth. He frowned when he took it out. "You have a temperature of one hundred and three."

"It was one hundred and two yesterday," Brooke said.

Sam rolled her eyes. She'd been right. Haley had obviously reported every single detail of what happened yesterday to Brooke.

Dr. Stein ran a few tests before concluding that Sam had the flu. "Have you been able to keep anything down?"

"Yeah," Sam replied.

"But she hasn't been eating normally," Brooke added. Sam glared at Brooke.

Dr. Stein nodded. "Her weight has dropped ten pounds since she was in here for an allergic reaction. I'm going to prescribe Tamiflu and an anti-nausea medication and release her today, but if she doesn't get better, you need to bring her back. She's at risk for dehydration."

Ten pounds. She'd lost ten pounds while she was living with her dad. Brooke was furious.

Brooke stopped at a pharmacy near Jimmy' apartment building.

"While you get the prescription filled, I'm going to go get my stuff from my dad's," Sam said.

"No. I'll take you to get your stuff. I don't want you alone with him," Brooke said.

"Brooke, I've been alone with him for two weeks. Nothing's gonna happen," Sam protested.

"You're right. Nothing's gonna happen because you're not going alone," Brooke said sternly.

Sam sighed. She knew it was no use arguing. They picked up Sam's prescriptions and then went to Jimmy's apartment building.

"You should stay in the car." Sam didn't even know why she bothered trying. She knew what Brooke's answer would be before the words left her mouth. She didn't really want Brooke to see Jimmy's apartment, but she needed her stuff.

"No," Brooke said.

Sam used her key to unlock the door. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the apartment was empty. She didn't really want Brooke and Jimmy in the same room right now.

Brooke followed Sam into the apartment. The apartment was filthy. It reeked of cigarette smoke. Empty beer bottles lined the counter. She couldn't believe Sam had been living here for two weeks. It made her sick.

Sam stuffed what little she had into her backpack quickly, but she wasn't fast enough. Jimmy walked into the door while Sam was packing. He smirked when he saw her. "You're back. I hope you didn't come empty-handed."

"I'm not back. I'm just getting my stuff," Sam said.

Brooke instinctively moved closer to Sam. Jimmy scowled when he saw her. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment? Get the hell out."

"Gladly," Brooke said with venom in her voice. She softened as she turned to Sam. "Come on, Sam."

Sam kept her head down and followed Brooke to the car. Brooke was glaring frosty daggers at Jimmy. Her hands clenched into fists. It took everything in her to walk away without slapping him. He wasn't worth it. Sam needed her right now.

"You've been sleeping on a couch, starving yourself and working your ass off and you never came to me," Brooke said. Her expression was pained.

"I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want you to hate me. Telling you I wanted to live with my dad was so hard. I just wanted to protect Seth," Sam said.

Brooke looked into Sam's eyes. "Samantha, I could never hate you. I love you. The reason I'm so hurt is because you've been hurting for two weeks. I should have protected you, and I failed."

"No, don't say that. It's not your fault," Sam said thickly.

"Maybe it's not my fault that your dad threatened you, but I think it is my fault that you didn't trust me enough to come to me," Brooke said.

"I trust you," Sam insisted.

Brooke shook her head. "Apparently not enough."

As soon as they got in the house, Brooke started making lunch. "Go take a shower and put pajamas on."

"It's noon," Sam protested.

Brooke ignored the teen's protests. "I'll have lunch ready. Then you can go to bed."

"It's noon!" Sam said a little louder.

"Yeah, and you have the flu," Brooke said with her hands on her hips.

Julian carried Seth until they were far enough away from the bank that he couldn't see or hear what was going on even though Seth was fighting the whole way. Seth was squirming around in Julian's arms, kicking him. "I want down!"

Julian finally set Seth down. Seth's face was flushed with anger. He'd been yelling for Julian to put him down for several minutes straight. He hit Julian as hard as he could. Luckily for Julian, Seth's five-year-old fist wasn't capable of doing much damage.

"Hey!" Julian said. He knelt down and used his hand to cuff Seth's hands together, so Seth couldn't hit him again. He looked into Seth's eyes. "What's this about?"

"I want to know if that was my dad! I want to see Sam!" Seth shouted.

"You'll see Sam later," Julian said. He felt fairly certain Brooke would not leave Sam with her dad.

"Was that my dad?" Seth asked.

Julian sighed. He had no idea what to tell Seth. "I don't know, Buddy. You can ask Brooke when we get home, OK?"

Seth nodded. "Julian, I'm sorry I hit you."

"Me too. It didn't feel good," Julian said.

"Are you mad at me?" Seth asked.

"A little. You can't hit people. You should treat people with respect," Julian scolded.

"Are you going to forgive me like I forgave Sam?" Seth asked.

"Yeah," Julian said with a smile.

They went to the arcade. Julian put a twenty into the machine and pocketed the tokens. "What do you want to play first?"

Seth looked around and pointed to a racecar game. They sat down next to each other. Julian put tokens in each machine. Seth was really bad. He kept driving off the road and crashing his car. Julian laughed. "Try to stay on the road." Julian won easily. "I'm going to have to warn Brooke to wear a helmet when she teaches you to drive. What do you want to play next?"

They played games for a few hours. Then they went to the cafeteria and got pizza and sodas.

"Is this what it's like to have a dad?" Seth asked.

Julian's eyes widened. He wasn't expecting that. He didn't know how to answer Seth's question. "I don't know. My dad wasn't exactly father of the year."

"Was he bad?" Seth asked.

"He was just never proud of me no matter what I did," Julian explained.

Sam was sleeping and Brooke was reading a magazine on the couch when Julian and Seth returned to the house.

"Look what we won!" Seth said loudly, holding up a small stuffed animal.

"Shh! Sam's sleeping," Brooke said quickly.

Seth lit up. "Sam's here? Is she staying?"

"Yeah," Brooke replied with a smile. She pulled Seth into her lap and admired the stuffed animal. "That is very cool."

"Was that my dad?" Seth asked.

Brooke sighed. She'd known she would have to answer that question when they got home. Julian had texted her to warn her. It didn't make it any easier. "Yeah, Buddy, that was your dad."

"Does he like Sam better than me?" Seth asked.

"Of course not," Brooke said.

"Then why does he hang out with her but not me?" Seth asked.

"Seth, he wasn't good to Sam. That's why we don't want him to hang out with you," Brooke explained.

"He's bad?" Seth asked.

Brooke nodded. "Yeah. You can't trust people when they're bad."

"Julian's dad is bad, too," Seth said.

Brooke looked at Julian. He shrugged. "Yeah, there's definitely some parents you're better off without," Brooke said.

"And there are some you're lucky to have," Julian said with a meaningful glance at Brooke.

Brooke smiled at Julian. "Let's see if there's anything good on TV." She flipped to the Disney channel.

Julian joined them on the couch. He put an arm around Brooke's shoulder. Brooke rested her head on his shoulder. Seth fell asleep stretched across their laps.

"What happened with Sam?" Julian asked. He spoke quietly so as not to wake Seth, and kept one eye on Seth to make sure he didn't stir.

Brooke's smile was instantly replaced by a look of pure hatred. "He made a deal with Sam that she would give him money and he would stay away from Seth."

Julian's expression changed from one of concern to one of shock and horror. "Unbelievable. And I thought our parents were bad."

"His apartment was…" Brooke's face showed her repulsion better than any words could. "She's been living in a studio apartment sleeping on the couch. She's lost ten pounds because she hasn't been eating enough. She's been working her ass off just so she could pay her dad. She has the flu."

"She's going to be OK. She's safe here with you," Julian murmured.

"It kills me because if she'd just trusted me enough to come to me, none of this would have happened," Brooke muttered.

"Maybe she didn't come to you _because_ she trusts you. She knew what he was doing was wrong. She wouldn't have lied if everything were OK. And she knew that you would do the right thing. You wouldn't have let her leave. You're better than that. She knows that, Brooke," Julian said.

Brooke looked into Julian's eyes. "You always make everything OK."

"Because I love you, Brooke Davis," Julian said with a grin.

"I love you, too," Brooke whispered.

"It's about time you said that when I was awake," Julian said with a smirk.

Brooke stared at him. "You were awake!" She punched his arm playfully.

Julian winced. "You hit harder than Seth."

"He hit you?" Brooke asked.

"Let's just say he wasn't happy about leaving his dad and Sam," Julian explained.

"I can't believe he hit you! I'm sorry," Brooke said.

"It's OK. He apologized," Julian said.

"Well, it's not OK, but I'm glad he apologized," Brooke said.

Sam emerged from her bedroom. She sat down in an armchair.

"What are you doing?" Brooke asked.

Sam stared at her. "Um, sitting here watching TV."

"What are you doing up? Why aren't you in bed?" Brooke asked with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not tired," Sam replied.

"Go back to bed," Brooke said.

"I've been in bed for hours," Sam whined.

"Come here," Brooke said.

Sam slowly approached the couch. Brooke felt Sam's forehead. "You're burning up. Now go back to bed," Brooke said firmly. Sam rolled her eyes. Brooke decided to try a different tact. "Look, you have to rest or you won't get better. You can sleep in your bed or you can sleep in a hospital bed."

"Fine," Sam muttered. She stomped back to her room.

Julian smirked. "You're mean."

"I just want her to get better. She hasn't been taking care of herself. She's been running around the cemetery in the middle of the night instead of sleeping," Brooke said defensively.

"If I get sick, will you nurse me back to health?" Julian asked with a grin.

"Yes," Brooke said with a smile.

"I'd like to see you in a nurse's costume," Julian said with a smirk.

Brooke smiled. "That can be arranged."


End file.
